Two crashes in 10 minutes; woman helping at scene hit by second vehicle

Nicole Roach took matters into her own hands last August after years of lobbying unsuccessfully for an 80km/h speed limit. The signs behind her are fake.

A woman who has campaigned about black spots on a notorious stretch of Kerikeri road was hit by an oncoming car as she helped at the scene of a crash on the road.

The car that sent Nicole Roach flying then collided with the first crashed car.

Roach rushed outside when she heard the first car come a cropper on a notorious black spot bend on Kapiro Rd at 11.30pm earlier this month.

Seeing the state of the vehicle, she expected to find someone had died or was seriously injured, but there was no-one in or near the wreck.

Soon after, she saw a man in trees beside her house who told her he had been visiting her neighbours.

Senior Sergeant Peter Robinson, Area Prevention Manager, said shortly after the first crash police arrested a 26-year old man suspected of being the first driver. He has been remanded in custody on unrelated charges.

Robinson confirmed another vehicle collided with the abandoned one soon after the first crash, and that driver also fled the scene.

After the first crash Roach put her car on the roadside with its hazard lights on, and was standing near it with a torch to warn oncoming traffic.

That's when the approaching car hit her before hitting the wreckage on the road.

Roach was thrown on to the shoulder of the road, and is still nursing injuries.

''I had a bit of indicator light embedded in my neck, glass through my hair, cuts. I've had headaches and been vomiting ever since and I'm sore all down one side. I can't afford to take time off work, I'm just starting up a new business and if I don't work, I don't get paid.''

She is appalled that the second driver ran away.

''He didn't know if he'd killed me or not, he just ran away. He could have left my three children orphaned,'' Roach, who is widowed, said.

The events of the night are like a recurring nightmare for residents who have witnessed nearly 20 crashes - some fatal - in as many years.

They have repeatedly asked the Far North District Council to lower the 100km/h speed limit at the road's problem spots.

''It's the cheapest, easiest, quickest and most effective way to make a change, immediately. Sure, do the road works and the expensive stuff later, but at least lower the speed now,'' Roach said.

Last year, after a near-fatal at the same spot, she had 80km/h stickers made and stuck them over the existing 100km/h signs. They were there for 48 hours before council contractors removed them.

Residents say it's only a matter of time before a vehicle crashes into the nearby school bus stop or into children arriving or leaving the kindergarten on the road.

A local authority review of Kapiro Rd's speed limits could happen within months, as part of a new regional-wide consultation plan under the umbrella of the Northland Transport Alliance (NTA).

In the meantime, signs will go up highlighting a series of corners where vehicles have lost control in the past, Glenn Rainham, Far North District Council Acting General Manager Infrastructure and Assets, said.

Other general road safety signs will be erected in August.

The council said it is not aware of any recent serious or fatal crashes on the road.

But Roach said the many incidents that have not left people dead or badly injured should also be taken into account.

Advocate files show there was a fatal car v bike accident on Kapiro Rd, in January, 2014 and a number of less serious crashes there since 2012.