Road worker knocked out by car

A road worker has been knocked unconscious by a car allegedly speeding through a worksite.

The woman was working the night shift on roadworks at Ratana Hill when the accident happened last Friday, a co-worker said.

"She was just moving some road cones. She was in no way a dangerous zone," said Helen Kuhn, who was working with the victim and saw the car coming up the hill about midnight.

"I noticed he was going quite fast. I was sort of waving him down, but he didn't slow down. She wasn't concentrating on him because we had quite a few cars pass through there."

Miss Kuhn said the victim was standing sideways when the car hit her, knocking her unconscious for several minutes.

"He hit her head-on, and he basically reversed backwards and just took off."

Meanwhile, the victim was bleeding from the head.

Miss Kuhn said her co-worker was left with a lot of grazing on her face and other parts of her body but was otherwise "very, very lucky".

Miss Kuhn pleaded for drivers to respect reduced speed zones around roadworks.

"People don't seem to realise that there's night shift workers out there."

She said the victim was still in hospital yesterday but was expected to be discharged soon.