Teen escapes serious injury in car flip

Carterton firefighters removed a door to help a teen driver from her upside-down car that came to rest in the middle of Brooklyn Rd after she lost control of the vehicle. Photo/Ron Mark

A young driver was lucky to escape serious injury after narrowly missing a roadside pipe carrying the main water supply for Carterton and flipping her car on Brooklyn Rd yesterday.

Carterton fire chief Wayne Robinson said the woman, 18, was the sole occupant of the car and had been found still in her car when firefighters arrived at the crash scene soon after 7.30am.

The Brooklyn Rd water pipe carrying the main Kaipatangata supply for Carterton that a driver came close to hitting after losing control of her car. Photo/Garry Baker

He said a door was cut from the stricken vehicle and the woman, who suffered moderate injuries, was put in a scoop stretcher and carried to an ambulance.

The woman was soon afterward taken to Wairarapa Hospital for further assessment and treatment.

Police were at the crash site and a Greytown fire crew that arrived at the scene was stood down. Mr Robinson said the car seemed to have veered into roadside vegetation before the woman lost control of the vehicle and struck the low wall. No other vehicle was involved.

"The car was upside down in the middle of the road on its roof and she was still in the vehicle with moderate injuries, nothing too serious though. She was lucky."

The stretch of road was briefly closed at the Lincoln Rd intersection.

Garry Baker, operations manager at Carterton District Council, said the car had struck a roadside underpass wing wall, which flanked a pipe carrying the main Carterton water supply to the town from the Kaipatangata Stream.

He said the collision had left the water main unaffected but an air valve atop the pipe was damaged and would be replaced.