Head on smash and 2 cars hit houses

by Anne-Marie Emerson
Wanganui police have had a busy start to the Easter weekend dealing with a head-on smash and two incidents of cars hitting houses.
Two men were taken to Wanganui hospital with moderate injuries after their vehicles collided on Waitotara hill, just south of Waitotara, at 1.30am yesterday.
Sergeant Colin Wright of Wanganui police said the two men were the sole occupants of their vehicles.
He said their injuries were "mostly broken bones".
"Neither of them was trapped - they were both out of their vehicles by the time emergency services arrived."
Fire crews from Waitotara, Waverley and Wanganui attended the crash.
Just after 3am a male driver hit a house in Castlecliff while trying to turn out of Cornfoot St into Carson St.
"The car smashed through a corrugated iron fence, spun round on the lawn and basically hit the house backwards.
He tried to drive off but was blocked by the fence, so he ran off."
Sgt Wright said the man was tracked by police to Cornfoot St.
He was arrested and charged with dangerous driving.
Sgt Wright said investigations were ongoing. He asked for anyone who saw a red Mitsubishi Evo driving erratically in the Castlecliff area between 2am and 3am yesterday to contact Wanganui police on [06] 349 0600.
Sgt Wright said the house had minor damage - "just a bit of cracking in the exterior cladding".
At 6.25am a car in York St, Gonville, clipped a parked car, went down an embankment and came to rest beside a house.
Sgt Wright said the male driver of the car allegedly fled the scene but returned later.
He was also arrested.
Last night the Easter road toll stood at five.
A 39-year-old man became the fifth person to die on NZ roads this Easter after losing control of his motorcycle about midday at the intersection of SH1 and Bosher Rd at Wellsford, 115km north of Auckland.
Early yesterday morning, a young man aged about 17 was thrown from his car and died after crashing on Whangarei Heads Rd, near Whangarei.
A man died in a two-car smash at Otara in south Auckland, at 10.30pm on Thursday.
Just after 9am yesterday a car went off the side of a bridge at Morrinsville in the Waikato, landing in the Piako River and killing the driver.
A motorcyclist died at Wellsford, north of Auckland, yesterday morning. Police said the man had a heart attack at the scene but were unsure if this was before or after the crash.