‘Very lucky nobody was killed’: Video captures near-miss before dramatic Christchurch crash

Saturday, 30 May 2026

A witness says it was 'very lucky' nobody was killed after a car crossed the grass median and caused a rollover crash.

One person was seriously injured.

Police are still investigating the cause of the crash.

A motorist who witnessed a crash which left a car on its roof on a busy Christchurch road said it was lucky no one was killed.

The two-vehicle crash happened on Linwood Ave, near Smith St, about 10.30am on Saturday, police said.

The road was blocked for a short time.

Hato Hone St John said four patients were assessed at the scene. One person was taken to Christchurch Hospital in a serious condition, while two others were transported in a moderate condition.

A fourth patient had minor injuries and declined an ambulance.

Christchurch real estate agent Aaron Pero was driving towards the central city with his wife and two children when he saw an orange car come over the median strip and towards his vehicle.

“My Tesla was in the self-driving mode and when I saw the orange car at the side of mine in my peripheral, I just quickly took over.

“We just narrowly missed the car,” Pero said.

Moments later, he looked in his rear-view mirror and saw the same car hit a black Toyota Prado, causing it to flip onto its roof.

“The Prado being flipped upside down … it looked pretty bad,” he said, adding that when he reached the scene, the driver appeared to have escaped serious injury, although he could see a cut on the man’s leg.

“I spoke to his son-in-law, and he said he was okay, given the circumstances.”

Pero said the crash could easily have had a far worse outcome, with pedestrians and cyclists nearby at the time.

“There were people walking around and people biking down the median strip … so I think it was very lucky that nobody was killed.”

The orange car appeared to have continued towards the side of a building after the crash, Pero said, although he was unsure whether it had hit.

According to Pero, a young boy had been in the orange car and was taken to an ambulance after the crash, but he was too far away to tell how badly he may have been injured.

After reviewing footage of the crash, Pero believed a delay of about a second could have resulted in a head-on or side-on collision with his own vehicle.

He said the presence of a child in the car made the crash particularly upsetting.

Aaron Pero initially said he believed a young girl had been in the orange car, but later said it was a boy. (Amended at 10.20am on May 31, 2026)