The motorway was strewn with crumpled cars after a moment of motorway madness last night. An 87-year-old man drove a green Mitsubishi Galant onto the motorway just after 8:30pm, going the wrong way.
"Normally when we get this sort of incident it's because of alcohol or confusion, but in last night's one, it doesn't appear that alcohol was a factor," says Sgt Stu Kearns, Waitemata police.
The Mitsubishi slammed into six cars as it continued up the motorway, eventually coming to a stop in the middle of the road.
Its elderly female passenger was flung from the vehicle and killed. The driver is in critical condition in hospital.
Kanti Patel was driving his family home in this car when the elderly driver ploughed directly into them.
"When I saw the car I thought, 'Oh my god,' and it was a scary point, you know? I thought I can duck him, just move from him, and I can save my family and my car and myself - but it was too late."
Their Honda ended on its roof after it hit the median barrier and flipped.
"I don't know how many times… the car hit the barrier, when he hit our car we went into the barrier and slid from there."
Miraculously they walked away with only minor scratches and bruising.
"We are the luckiest there actually - we came out unhurt," says Mr Patel. "Otherwise there were quite a few people injured actually."
"When I arrived and saw the amount of vehicles strewn across the motorway, I was expecting there'd be more casualties," says Sgt Kearns, "but those that were taken to hospital had minor to moderate injuries, which was a good thing."
There were more horror scenes further south in Te Puke after a car with seven teenage boys inside hit a bridge and crashed into a river.
Extra police were brought in because of concerns over the young gang members' behaviour.
Five people were taken to hospital, while a sixth was pronounced dead at the scene作者: rexwang 时间: 2010-7-25 22:34:29
啊。。。。。。悲剧 默哀