Fiery end to Auckland trip

A driver who escaped a fiery crash in the "boondocks" of Waihi, in the Waikato, claimed he was following his GPS on the highway to Auckland.

But Waihi police say the Tauranga man was clearly driving too fast for the wet conditions when he hit the bank on Monday, sending the new model Subaru up in flames.


A fiery end to a trip. Photo: Waihi Police.

"He just didn't slow down," Constable Scott Tyrrell of Waihi police says.

"The car burst into flames and he managed to self-extract, in a hurry."

Police sped to the scene, going "a good clip", after the initial report said people were trapped in a burning car, Scott says.

They arrived at Waitewhata Road within five minutes to find the car ablaze.

"He said he wasn't speeding but we flew to the crash and we never had any problems with the road."

"Unless he has lost concentration or looking at his phone - either way, it was driver error."

Skid marks heading uphill stretched for 50 metres.

"He was even going way too quick looking at even the skid marks."

The car spun out, clipping a bank before coming to stop on the opposite side of the road where it burst into flames. Heat from the blaze melted the bonnet.

Luckily, Scott says, the driver was able to jump out and when police arrived was talking to a couple of farmers on the side of a road.

"There's no way there was anybody able to survive that, if they had been in there."

The driver was uninjured but "shaken" after the close call.

"Once it was all out he came up and asked to get his laptop out. We said 'help yourself'."

But there was nothing left.

"He was disappointed he had crashed, lost his personal items."

The man told Scott he was following his GPS from Tauranga to Auckland, thinking he was still on State Highway 2.

"There were no other cars around, and it was a country road, he was in the boondocks. But leading up to it there are 65k advisory signs."

What exactly sparked the blaze leaving the new Subaru a burnt out shell is a bit of a mystery, Scott says.

The fire burned from the front to the back of the car, indicating it ignited in the engine bay, but with such little damage on impact it was hard to pinpoint.

"It is a bit of a curiosity as to how it actually caught on fire. It's a late model, low kilometres on the clock, had a current reg and warrant."

"It's very rare for cars to catch fire unless it's a big force trucks and ruptures of fuel cells."

By the time the Fire Service arrived "everything was burnt".

Meanwhile the driver found himself on a bus back to Tauranga.​

- Stuff

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1 comment

Nz Car drivers

Posted on 31-05-2016 16:07 | By Kenworthlogger

Good grief.....


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