Te Ngae crash: Women's shock as motorists drive by

Two Rotorua women are shocked that motorists ignored a crash on a busy Rotorua road, driving past without offering to help, while a driver was trapped inside her vehicle.

The woman had to be cut out of her vehicle after it was involved in a two-car smash along Te Ngae Rd about 3.30pm yesterday - a busy time on the road with after-school traffic.

Two women, who were the only bystanders to stop, were amazed drivers carried on through the crash scene.

The crash happened near the intersection of Te Ngae Rd and Coulter Rd and involved a silver Mitsubishi Galant and a blue Morris Minor. Traffic heading towards the Rotorua International Airport was diverted down Sunrise Ave, Rewarewa St and Pohutukawa Dr before coming back on to Te Ngae Rd.

Traffic travelling towards the city was diverted up Coulter Rd, Glenfield Rd and Wharenui Rd before coming back on to Te Ngae Rd.

Police, firefighters and ambulance crews were all at the scene. When the woman was being cut from her car a crowd gathered to watch, with those who were first on the scene encouraging school students to move back away from the car.

One of the women, who didn't want to be identified, said she was the first on the scene and tried to get other motorists to stop and help those involved in the crash.

She said she saw the crash happen and was shocked no one was stopping to help. She said about 20 cars drove past.

"I didn't have my cellphone on me so I needed other people to stop and help," she said.

"So many cars just drove straight past me. I couldn't believe it. I was disgusted."

She said it was at least "a couple of minutes" before anyone else stopped to help.

"This is what worries me. Just think if the crash was worse and people were in serious danger, no one might come to help you."

A woman, who only wanted to be known as Melissa, was the second person to stop at the scene and called emergency services. She said she saw traffic was backing up and couldn't believe that no one else had stopped to help before she got there.

"It's crazy, they want to four-lane this road. If they do that there will be more crashes like this," Melissa said.

"There aren't too many crashes like this along Te Ngae ... but if they widen this road there will be so many more crashes like this."

Melissa said it would be dangerous because the area was highly built up.

"There's schools around here, shops and houses, there's just so many kids running around. It won't be if, it will be when."

One Sunrise Ave resident said she heard a loud bang and walked over to the crash scene to see what happened.

"There isn't too many crashes like this around here," she said.

"I hope the people involved in this are okay."

A spokeswoman from St John northern communications said ambulance crews took one woman to Rotorua Hospital as a result of the crash.

She said the woman appeared to have suffered minor injuries to her back.

Rotorua police are investigating the cause of the crash.