Police urge motorists to be vigilant after fatal crash at notorious Canterbury intersection

Friday, 16 February 2018

A British couple in their 60s were killed in a crash at a notorious Canterbury intersection on Thursday.

Two crashes in two days – one that killed a British couple, another where 'pure luck' avoided up to five fatalities – has prompted a warning from police about dangerous Canterbury intersections.

In the first crash, at Waddington, west of Christchurch, on Wednesday, a truck crashed into a Toyota Highlander carrying five tourists. Police rural response manager Senior Sergeant Pete Stills said the Toyota failed to stop at the intersection of State Highway 73 and Waimakariri Gorge Rd and drove into the path of the truck. The truck driver 'hit the brakes and swerved very hard to the left', he said. The evasive manouevre meant the truck hit the car just behind the right rear door.

A cross at the intersection of Shands Rd and Blakes Rd marks a previous fatal crash.

'Had he hit the vehicle square on, or had he hit it a second earlier, I'm certain we would have had between one or five deaths,' Still said.

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The car was carrying a husband and wife, their 10-year-old child and the child's grandparents. An 'elderly' man and a woman were taken to Christchurch Hospital with serious and moderate injuries respectively.

In the second crash, at the intersection of Shands and Blakes Rd near Prebbleton, a British couple in their 60s were killed when their rented Toyota was hit by a truck carrying a load of steel.

Senior Constable Andy Williamson it appeared the car 'slowed almost to a stop [at a stop sign on Blakes Rd] but clearly hasn't observed the truck coming'.

The truck driver was left in a 'state of shock'.

A police officer en route to another crash was the first on the scene. Stills said he and an off-duty doctor attempted first aid on the British couple, but both died at the scene.

Victim support had been offered to the truck driver and witnesses, of which there were many, according to Williamson. The couple had arrived in New Zealand about a month ago. The British woman's brother, who lived in Christchurch, had been notified and subsequently informed the couple's son in the United Kingdom.

In the last five years, 40 per cent of fatal and serious crashes in the Selwyn district have occurred at intersections. In light of the two recent crashes, police were calling for motorists to be extra vigilant.

'We go to dozens and dozens and dozens of crashes,' Williamson said, 'We can go to two or three serious crashes at an intersection a day. People just need to stop, pause and look properly at intersections.'

The Shands-Blakes intersection was ranked the fifteenth most dangerous in Canterbury over the past five years, with one person killed and two seriously injured in three crashes in that time. It is due to be upgraded to a roundabout next year.

Shands Rd was restricted to 80kmh where the crash happened. It was reduced from 100kmh about five years ago to 'reduce the severity' of crashes. Signs on the road designated it a 'high crash area', Stills said.

The two crashes were a reminder motorists needed to be vigilant at intersections, he said. Drivers needed to look for vehicles approaching from side streets, 'slow down and be prepared to take evasive action if necessary'.

He described Thursday's crash as a 'real tragedy' and said it was only 'pure luck' and the actions of a truck driver that prevented a similar outcome the day before.

'Tragically for [the truck driver] he'll live the rest of his life with the memory of what's happened'.