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Home / New Zealand

The Whanganui fence that cars keep crashing into

Emma Russell
By Emma Russell
Multimedia Journalist·NZ Herald·
22 Mar, 2018 08:35 AM2 mins to read

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Sandra Watson's fence gets smashed by a car for the 11th time

Wheels skidding, car breaks and a loud bang - all sounds Whanganui resident Sandra Watson is far too familiar with.

Again, on Thursday at 3.55pm, a 22-year-old woman lost control of her vehicle as she flew around Whanganui's Totara / Fitzherbert St bend plummeting into Watson's fence, and slamming into a tree.

The Whanganui woman was taken to hospital in an ambulance with minor injures.

The crash marks the eleventh time a vehicle has ploughed into Watson's fence, and the fifth time in the last year. It happened just a day after Watson took a petition to council to install a roundabout at what she calls "a death trap waiting to happen."

Julie Lovell said she was driving from the opposite direction, on Fitzherbert St turning onto Totora St, when she saw the woman skidding.

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"She was already drifting sideways when I saw her, her tail was verging onto my side of the road so I shot up the left hand side to avoid hitting her.

"By the time I got out of the car she had smashed into the tree."

She said she felt sorry for the driver because it was an accident and it could have happened to anyone.

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"It was bad enough I had to get my car between a powerpole and fence to get out of her way," Lovell said.

Watson was still shaking as she spoke to the Wanganui Chronicle. She said she was glad the driver was okay because, if she had come in any faster she could have been killed.

"I can't believe something is still not being done about this, it's a real problem and it keeps happening - five times in less than a year."

Fire, ambulance and police were called to the scene. Police said they couldn't comment on crash at this stage.

Sandra Watson presents petition for a roundabout
1400 signatures for Whanganui roundabout on 'death trap'

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