Six people are in hospital – two with serious injuries – after a spate of multiple car crashes on State Highway One north and south of Kaiwaka.

Firefighters closed State Highway One for more than two hours, diverting traffic through Mangawhai. But soon after some of the diverted motorists got back on to State Highway One at Kaiwaka they were caught up in a four-car collision about five kilometers north of the town.

The drama began with a two car collision at Topuni, seven kilometers south of Kaiwaka, about 2pm on Wednesday that left a young woman trapped in the driver’s seat of one of the vehicles. North Shore police Senior Sergeant Bill Russell said that seconds after that crash four cars were involved in a minor nose-to-tail collision near the accident scene.

Maungaturoto, Kaiwaka and Wellsford firefighters cut the woman free from the wreckage of her car and she was flown to Auckland Hospital by the Westpac rescue helicopter for treatment of serious injuries.

The firefighters closed State Highway One for more than two hours, diverting traffic through Mangawhai. But soon after some of the diverted motorists got back on to State Highway One at Kaiwaka they were caught up in a four-car collision about five kilometers north of the town.
Maungaturoto police Constable Jeremy Cullen said it appeared a man and woman traveling south in a GMC utility had clipped a boat trailer towed by another vehicle about 5.50pm.
The GMC had then crossed the centre line and collided head-on with a small Mitsubishi sedan in which a woman and two children had been traveling north, he said.
A Holden station wagon heading north also became involved in the crash, but the three people in that vehicle were uninjured.

Asked if anyone would be charged with driving offences, Mr Cullen said police inquiries were continuing. Maungaturoto Volunteer Fire Brigade chief fire officer Trevor Pilbrow said that Whangarei paramedic Adrian Gavin had been in a car following the crash vehicles and was almost first on the accident scene. “He (Mr Gavin) pulled people out of the wreckage and helped them. He was great,” Mr Pilbrow said.

The GMC pair, understood to be a married couple from Auckland, were taken to Whangarei Hospital by ambulance for treatment of moderate injuries. Their condition yesterday was stable. The seriously injured Mitsubishi woman and the two children, who had moderate injuries, were taken to Auckland Hospital by the Northland Electricity rescue helicopter.
Auckland Hospital communications officer Rachel Hughes said yesterday that the condition of both the Mitsubishi woman and Topuni crash victim was “serious and causing concern”.
Both children were in a stable condition, she said.

State Highway One was again closed for more than two hours following the crash north of Kaiwaka, with traffic diverted through Baldrock Rd and Mountain Rd until the highway was re-opened about 8pm.

By Mike Barrington