A woman is dead after a crash between an unladen logging truck and car on State Highway 29 near the Ruahihi Power Station today.
The 42-year-old Tauranga woman died at the scene after the vehicle she was driving and a logging truck collided at the Ruahihi Road intersection at 8.15am.
One person is dead after a car and unladen logging truck crashed at Ruahihi Road.
Western Bay of Plenty road policing manager Senior Sergeant Ian Campion says the woman was turning right out of Ruahihi Road towards Tauranga when she collided with the unladen truck travelling towards Hamilton.
'The vehicle made a right turn into the path of a west-bound unladen logging truck.
'The sole occupant and driver of the car died at the scene.”
The road was closed from 8.30am until 12pm today while the police Serious Crash Unit investigated.
Diversions were place through Poripori Road for Tauranga bound vehicles and through Cambridge Road, State Highway 2 and Wairoa and Poripori Road for Waikato bound vehicles.
NZ Transport Authority advised the diversion via Poripori Road, Crawford Road, Wairoa Road and Moffat Road adds an additional 30 minutes to the journey.
Police, St John Ambulance and firefighters from Tauranga and Greerton were called to the crash at 8.17am.
Northern Fire Communications shift manager Colin Underdown says when firefighters arrived one person was trapped in a vehicle after it and the truck crashed.
Tauranga firefighters remained at the scene until police crash unit arrived.
Callers to 0800 SUNLIVE reported traffic holdups along the diversion route and through Bethlehem as a result of the crash.
Keep checking SunLive for updates.
Do you have information on this incident? Email newsroom@thesun.co.nz or phone 0800 SUNLIVE.
9 comments
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Posted on 21-06-2013 09:10 | By whatsinaname
oh no. That peice of road is bad for sunstrike............ thoughts with the families concerned. I no lots of people that live in that area, also the kaimai school bus is around that area about that time............
Right turn options onto highways
Posted on 21-06-2013 10:23 | By Murray.Guy
It is not about playing the blame game, it's about how can we reasonable reduce risk ... The NZTA, traffic engineers, road designers and the community must give serious thought to safer options to access busier roads and highways, especially so when it involves a right turn in the face of higher speed, high volume oncoming traffic. All too frequently we have vehicles wishing to exit a minor road onto a highway, failing to see and or estimate the gap and time available to them. Approaching vehicles may be hard to see, travelling faster than estimated. A recent right turn incident involved a school bus at Te Puna. A hesitation, a slower than necessary entry onto the highway and an incident in the mix. I have long wondered why a turn right onto highways has been allowed in so many obviously risky areas. Would it really matter if we were forced to turn left, to blend in with the traffic flow, turning right at a designed right turn opportunity as soon as practical? Would it matter if a journey took a little longer? Condolences to those who have lost a loved one(s), grateful thanks to those whose task it is to assist and support.
80kph
Posted on 21-06-2013 12:48 | By jed
I wish they'd make the Tauranga side of the Kaimais an 80kph speed limit. That road is just so dangerous.
JED
Posted on 21-06-2013 13:02 | By whatsinaname
no need to make traffic 80kmp that is silly. There is nothing wrong with the road..... Will cause more accidents. People need to learn to drive properly and take care. there are some real clowns out there............ my thoughts with the families etc concerned in this mornings accident.i dont no how and what happened...
Removing passing lanes
Posted on 21-06-2013 13:17 | By Capt_Kaveman
they remove some of the passing lanes or try make the road safer does not make people drive better this corner has plenty of visible road turning right its traffic from the left, this corner was widened some years ago for this reason, there are many roads worse than the Kaimais
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Posted on 21-06-2013 19:49 | By Paul R
This accident wasn't about speed. It was a misjudgement which ended fatally. Condolences to the familys
Making Roads Safe
Posted on 21-06-2013 19:56 | By trevorm
I doubt any of the ideas posted so far will make our roads safer. Also we don't know the facts of this particular incident, was there a medical condition, alcohol etc involved? In which case none of the points raised so far are valid. Good drivers drive to the conditions, so sunstrike, passing lanes, 80kph speed limits are really irrelevant. Education, both initial and on-going, is the only answer. Lower insurance rates tied to successful completion of advanced regular driver training would be a good start.
Many factors
Posted on 22-06-2013 11:22 | By Plonker
The design and quality of roads has a huge impact on how safe the roads are. having said that ... no amount of "safe" road planning is enough to compensate for e.g. conditions at the time, low sun etc and as Murray points out just simply misjudging the traffic speed can be the only cause. When a lot of traffic is on the road the time and patience required to be able to be able to execute a safe right turn may not come that quick, frustration builds and rash decisions are made that otherwise would not happen. At the moment we do not know the reasons/cause of the accident so for now it is but speculation and a waste of time generally. No point say "if this happened ..." or something else? NZTA use what is called a "BC index" (Body count) they keep a tally of accidents, injuries and deaths at various locations on the roads, the more there are the more likely NZTA will move them up the list and then seek to look and remedy. As to Murray's idea of left only turns is fair enough, that option is available at all times and certainly is easier to head up the road and easier to then cross and return to the desire direction. But many people are "I am going this way" irrespective of the "now" risks and danger, alternate is an under/over pass to eliminate the risk, while at it perhaps all highways should have a barrier up the middle to avoid head on accidents on the open highways. How many precautions, preventatives do you have? I am afraid that these same questions arise each and every time there is an accident
Road Design
Posted on 22-06-2013 11:37 | By Kaimai
I've seen more close calls on the Redwood Lane / Gargan Rd piece of highway since the passing lane was removed - some slow vehicles pull over to the left, many don't and passing still occurrs. At this time of the year morning sun strike there is common. I believe it is only a matter of time before another tragedy occurs.
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