Three people have been seriously injured after their car veered off the road at high speed, crashed into a pole and caught fire in Hamilton.
Neighbour Shamim, 37, told the Herald at the scene that he heard a loud bang outside his house on Tawa St, at the intersection with Kahikatea Drive, and raced outside to find the car had smashed into the pole, while flames were flickering under the bonnet.
As he pulled the driver from the scene, two other neighbours - one a former Hamilton firefighter - also helped pull out the two other occupants before it was fully engulfed in flames.
Shamim said he'd just dropped his wife at work, at nearby Waikato Hospital, when he heard a "huge" bang from his room.
"I came out and pulled out the driver ... and there were two other ladies [neighbours] who came from the other side [of the street].
"We checked if there were any other babies or any small kids in there but no one was there and the car, or the engine, was on fire. We just dragged them out on the other side."
He said the driver, a man, was able to talk but not a lot, he was scared and had blood coming from his nose.
The other two occupants were women.
Shamim said he was also scared throughout the ordeal and now hoped the occupants would be okay.
The impact was so intense, a rear bumper has been left wrapped around a tree, while the front bumper was thrown about 15m from the pole, along with other debris.
Waikato road policing manager Inspector Jeff Penno said the car has left the road on a minor left-hand bend, hit the kerb and travelled about 30m before leaving a divot in the ground, getting airborne and hitting a pole.
We would like to take the time to acknowledge the heroic actions by one of our ex firefighters this morning. Because of...
Posted by Hamilton City Fire Area on Tuesday, April 21, 2020
"We're extremely lucky that several members of the public heard the crash and removed the occupants of the vehicle.
"We do have three people who are currently in hospital, we are assessing their condition, however some of them are seriously injured. We are extremely lucky that no one was killed in the crash."
Two of the occupants were in a serious conditions on Wednesday evening, while another was in a moderate condition.
Penno said speed and distraction were being investigated as factors in the crash.
"There is indication that the vehicle was travelling above the speed limit. This is why the police are so rigid in speed enforcement.
"A lot of vehicle crashes occur not through a criminal act but through a mistake.
"Speed is energy and energy will hurt you.
"As you can see there has been a very sudden impact. The intrusion to the engine bay in that vehicle is significant and that indicates speed on our behalf. This is a 60km/h zone and clearly the impact is above that."
"Our advice to the public as people start moving more is the laws of physics haven't changed. The roads are quieter, we need you to obey all regulations."
He said police were lenient around overdue warrant of fitness, but there was no flexibility when it came to speed.
"If you choose to speed we will enforce those speed limits because this is the result if we don't."
Penno reminded people of the lockdown and the fact they needed all emergency services available to respond to Covid-19 issues, not crashes.
"We need all our emergency services to be free and available for the Covid response not looking out for people from a preventable car crash."
He praised the neighbours who rushed to help the injured.
"Certainly members of the public who were first on the scene have done a great job in removing people from the vehicle before it caught fire.
"That just shows the best of human nature. Those people have come out and put themselves at risk to help other members of the community and that's just fantastic and we appreciate it."
The road was closed as the serious crash unit investigated the scene.