Wheelchair-bound man escapes serious injury after car accelerator gets stuck at 100km/h in Hamilton

A man escaped injury after losing control at an intersection in Hamilton yesterday. Photo / Daniel Middleton

A wheelchair-bound man escaped a high-speed Hamilton crash after his foot got stuck on the accelerator.

Witness Daniel Middleton was driving towards a roundabout in Hamilton on Wednesday night when he noticed a silver station wagon racing towards him.

It quickly got closer, with the car's engine revving at full throttle, and Middleton had to put his foot down to get out of the way.

"As soon as I did that I heard the tyres screeching and the crashing. Then I did a u-turn to see if he was all right," he told Fairfax.

He estimated the vehicle, driven by a man believed to be in his 60s, was travelling about 120km/h when it spun out, crashing into a fence. A pole smashed lengthways through the car, narrowly missing the driver.

"The fence went in the back side window, through the dash board about 30cm away from the driver.

"At first I thought it was a police chase or a drink driver, but then I saw the guy didn't have use of his legs."

People rushed to help the driver of the crashed car, who seemed to be in shock but was uninjured.

"He seemed quite distraught and saying his foot had got stuck on the gas pedal," said Middleton.