Crashes hospitalise three

Police are investigating three separate crashes which have seen three people taken to Tauranga Hospital, one of whom is in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.

A 14-year-old Tauranga boy is in serious condition after he suffered a serious head injury when his head hit the windscreen of a car following an accident on Maunganui Road around 3pm on Saturday.

A 14-year-old boy was hit by a car on Maunganui Road around 3pm on Saturday.

The pedestrian was struck by the vehicle near the intersection of Spur Avenue when he was attempting to cross the road, say Police.

“He was taken to Tauranga Hospital by ambulance staff and was admitted to ICU in a serious but stable condition,” says Sergeant Mike Owen.

“The full extent of his injuries is unknown at this stage.”

In a separate incident on Maunganui Road, a 61-year-old Papamoa man suffered serious arm, shoulder and torso injuries after the motorcycle he was riding collided with a van around 5.30pm, near Girven Road.

Mike says the man may have also suffered a fractured pelvis as a result of the crash.

“He was taken to Tauranga Hospital and is currently in a serious but stable condition.”
In a third accident around 7pm, emergency services were called to a vehicle down a bank on State Highway 2, near Aongatete.

Mike says a vehicle was travelling north when it left the road on a moderate right hand bend, colliding with a road sign and narrowly missing a concrete power pole.

“The vehicle has rolled through an area of scrub before coming to rest upside down in a drain.

The 48-year- old local man was taken to Tauranga Hospital with moderate injuries. 

“Early indications are speed is a factor in this crash but it is yet been determined if alcohol was also a factor.”

A police crash analyst attended all three scenes and investigations into the causes of the crashes are continuing.

Mike says alcohol and speed do not appear to be a factor in the first two accidents.

“While this many serious injury crashes in a short time frame is a rare occurrence, it served as a timely reminder for all road users to drive to the conditions and be aware of what other road users were doing around them. 

“All three of these crashes were so avoidable and all three could have just as easily ended up in fatalities.”