Tauranga hit-and-run: E-scooter hit by car at Gate Pa intersection of Faulkner St/Cook St

Video of a hit-and-run shows a car colliding with two people riding an e-scooter, collecting them on its bonnet then throwing them to the road as it drives off.

A local woman fears a child will be killed if safety improvements aren’t made at the intersection after several crashes in recent years.

Cook St resident Teisha Paratene’s security camera captured the crash, which happened just after 7.30am last Friday.

The video shows a small vehicle on Faulkner St approaching a give-way at the intersection with Cook St.

As the e-scooter — travelling on Cook St and carrying two people understood to be a mother and daughter — crosses the intersection, the vehicle turns on to Faulkner St and hits them.

Only one rider appears to be wearing a helmet and both are collected by the edge of the car’s bonnet. They and the scooter are carried briefly before they fall to the road.

The motorist keeps driving.

One of the riders stands up immediately and walks to the side of the road, the other sits on the road for a few seconds before walking to the verge and lying down on the grass.

Paratene told the Bay of Plenty Times she “couldn’t believe any human being would do that”, referring to the hit and run.

She and her partner realised something had happened after hearing the dogs barking by the fence and seeing an ambulance attending to the two people.

Paratene said they immediately checked their camera footage so they could give it to the victims. She said her partner was told they were mother and daughter when he went out to speak to them.

She said they were told the mother was wearing a helmet and driving the scooter, and appeared to have a head injury after taking the brunt of the impact.

The daughter was in shock and had cuts and grazes, Paratene said.

Paratene said the crash was not a one-off and in her view: “It’s a dangerous intersection.”

She said there were a lot of boy racers and heavy traffic coming to and from nearby schools and the hospital.

A few weeks ago she witnessed a 4WD and a car colliding at the same intersection.

She said they had seen “so many people run over” at the intersection because people did not stop when coming out of Faulkner St, or cut the corner turning on to Faulkner St from Cook St.

Two years ago, a car failed to stop at the intersection, ploughed through her daughter’s car on the kerb, then went through the fence and down the side of the house, she said.

If her daughter’s car hadn’t been there, Paratene believed, the car would have gone through her living room.

She said she wanted a raised pedestrian crossing and an island installed on Faulkner St at the intersection. If that didn’t happen, she believed “one of our kids will definitely get killed”.

Police received a report of a minor crash on Faulkner St at 7.38am on Friday, involving a vehicle and an electric scooter. Minor injuries were reported, a spokesperson said.

The driver of the vehicle failed to stop and inquiries are ongoing. No arrests had been made.

The Tauranga City Council has been approached for comment.