Three people dead and another critically injured in Ashburton crash
Monday, 1 April 2019
A mother and her two young children are dead – and a teenage relative is critically injured – after their car went through a give way sign and into the path of a ute near Ashburton.
The three deaths lifted the number killed on New Zealand roads in the past eight days to 20 – and the total for the year past 100.
Emergency services were called to the crash at the intersection of Mitcham Rd and Hepburns Rd, north of Ashburton, just after 10am on Monday.
Mid-South Canterbury area commander Inspector Dave Gaskin said the mother, her two children and the critically-injured teen, who was a family relative, were all travelling in a green Holden Astra heading north along Hepburns Rd, which is controlled by give way signs.
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The other vehicle, a white Ford Ranger, was heading west along Mitcham Rd and collided with the other vehicle.
Senior Sergeant Matt Emery said the mother, aged 30 from Ashburton, along with her infant daughter and toddler son died in the crash.
Both children were in the back of the car, in car seats, while the teenage girl was in the front passenger seat.
'It's an absolute tragedy to lose three lives especially after the five up north [near Taupō earlier on Monday],' Emery said.
The crash has similarities to one at a rural Mid Canterbury intersection in May 2014 that claimed three lives. Sally Rumble, her daughter, Ella Summerfield, 12, and her daughter's friend Abigail 'Abi' Hone, 12, died after the car driven by tourist Johannes Appelman failed to give way and crashed into the left-hand side of their vehicle on Thompsons Track, near Ashburton. The two scenes are about 20km apart.
Emery said the weather was fine, clear and sunny and did not appear to be a factor in the crash.
Six others also died on New Zealand roads on Monday.
Assistant Commissioner for prevention and road policing Sandra Venables said Monday was a 'tragic day' on the country's roads.
'Alongside NZTA [NZ Transport Agency], New Zealand Police would like to urge you to please, take care on our roads, drive to the conditions, make sure everyone in the vehicle is using their seatbelt and don't get distracted,' Venables said.
'Speed is also something we should be trying to lower to ensure that everyone gets home to gets to their destination safely.'
Ashburton Mayor Donna Favel said the road markings at the intersection had been refreshed in the past few months.
The council had records of crashes at that intersection from 2013 and 2016, although neither caused serious injury.
'With any fatality we always look at what part council had to play in it, if any, and if there is anything found we will remediate that as soon as possible.'
Favel said it was devastating when anyone died on the road, and 'particularly devastating to be part of what seems to be one of the darkest days on New Zealand roads'.
A nearby resident on Hepburns Rd, who did not want to be named, said she was always cautious at the intersection.
There was a raised culvert for an irrigation ditch on Mitcham Rd to the south of the intersection that needed to be removed, she said, because 'it's quite raised and you can't see down the road'.
The resident said there was also a large macrocarpa hedge on Mitcham Rd, which shaded the road sometimes and made it hard to see dark-coloured cars coming.
The resident said she drove very carefully at the intersection because the cars on Mitcham Rd were going so fast. 'If you don't see a car coming, you're history.'
A nearby resident on Mitcham Rd, who did not want to be named, said she had been waiting for something like this to happen at the intersection because of 'the way people go screaming up and down [Mitcham Rd].'
She said she heard a 'humungous bang' and walked across a paddock to where she could see the crash aftermath in the distance.
St John spokesman Gerard Campbell said two ambulances and a rescue helicopter from Christchurch had been sent to the scene.
He said two people were initially taken to Ashburton Hospital by ambulance. It was believed one person died on the way.
Campbell said the teenager was flown from Ashburton Hospital to Christchurch Hospital and another person with minor injuries was taken to Ashburton Hospital.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman Andrew Norris said two crews from Ashburton went to the crash.
A rescue team cut a trapped person out of one of the cars, he said.
The police serious crash unit was investigating the crash.
* An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the three people who had died were in a car on Mitcham Rd when an other vehicle, heading north along Hepburns Rd drove directly into their path. The family who died were travelling on Hepburns Rd.