How Not To Enter A Tunnel ...

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Missed..

Forensics

A day of investigation and surveying the scene of yesterdays accident.

The Police Serious Crash Unit gather evidence, take measurements and photographs, and do skid tests.

The car will also be examined closely.

If you are a Kiwi, there is an interesting TV programme on how they work.

We usually find out the reasons for a local crash at the inevitable next one ...

Death In The Afternoon

This afternoon a siren screamed past; a police car.

I had been doing manly things with a chainsaw and wasn't sure if other emergency services had also gone by.

I talked myself into believing that just an errant speedster had been busted ... No worries.

I filled my thermos "in case."

For I am truly an old and cunning roadworker.

Sure enough the phone eventually rang.

This car with 5 aboard had left the road south of Mahoenui.

Unfortunately an elderly woman in the back seat died.

Two helicopters were used to ferry the others to hospital.

A strange crash. No other vehicles involved, No sign of any braking. A very heavy impact.

The usual long wait for police photographers, Serious Crash Unit, Undertaker, Tow truck etc.

It doesn't stop there. Tomorrow morning they will survey the road and try and explain a puzzling accident.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Crash!

Audio books are a truck drivers friend.

If you are driving distances, a good book will help pass the time.

Lately I have been immersed in a world of treachery and spying.

But George Smiley always comes through...

It is a bit odd sometimes to step out of the streets of cold war Prague, into a seaside rest area, but George has helped me solve a problem.

It's been puzzling me why so many cars slide off on "my corner".

No motor bikes or trucks, just cars...

George Smiley would gnaw away at a problem and suddenly the pieces would fit together.

I think I have found the culprit, by George....
 

It's that mobile phone mast.

The only one for miles ...

As I leaned in the door of Saturday's off roader and truck violator, he spoke into a phone...

"You won't believe it, but I've just had an accident...."

He didn't have time to ring someone, unless he speed dialled and they answered at the first ring... and it takes a few seconds to get yourself together after an accident, ... Minutes even.

He was already talking on the phone as he came around the corner...

He tried to pass me on the inside, despite indicators and bloody great "Pass With Care" signs.

Caller, your time is up ...

Kamikaze Alley

 A couple of weeks ago a car demolished our letter box.

It's not one of your Townie things that you can't fit a box of beer in, it's a Country one that you almost live in.
The gate is also under constant attack from kamikaze drivers.
 This afternoon one lead footed gentleman attacked my truck as I was arriving home from heroically clearing the Queens Highway from rocks and debris.

He almost beat me to my couch

He lost.

I must admit that this time I was torn between administering first aid and punching his lights out.

I rang the emergency services through gritted teeth, - needless to say they knew where to go.

Now my beautiful chainsaw locker is all bent up.

I think I might start carrying a baseball bat...

Long Drop

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This is one lucky driver.

Somehow he has hit the guardrail at the right of picture and ended up facing the way he came having cleared a concrete culvert opening.

Now this sort of thing happens every day,
but there is a steep drop here...


A long drop in fact ...

Well I bet he needed one !

found on(reddit.com)

Crash Your Car Early This Xmas.

I chuckled a bit when I saw this.

Obviously the farmer over the road got very sick of "rescuers"

This car just sailed off the end of a straight piece of road, in daytime.

It only took out a fence, and ended up well off the road.

We like that ...

Marks

There was a very lucky lady in that distant car today.

She clipped a truck & trailer, virtually head on.

The batteries in my camera were flat and I just got the one shot of the skid marks.

They tell a story.

You can see the single front tire marks heading off to the left side of the road.

The heavier ones are the trailer.

After the impact the truckie has come off the brakes and steered the rig off the road.

The car has rotated and gone into the opposite bank.

The driver was cut and bruised.

The impact was a glancing blow, the evasive action probably a life saver.

Write Off

In the cold light of day, and once pulled out from my fence, the damage looks much worse.

In fact a "write off".

Unable to get at the battery and with two door lights glowing all night, I was woken twice by well meaning rescuers.

(Despite it being surrounded by cones)

Today I pulled it out and put it in a paddock next door.

I might be able to open a wrecking yard soon ...

Put The Cone Out And They Will Come ...

This is taken from my gateway.

The car, travelling away from the camera, has taken out a tree, and is extensively damaged.

Car crashes make a hell of a noise.

Watching England's latest rugby humiliation from my couch, I heard it coming and was out the door as it impacted.

The woman driving was scratched and shaken.

She had unerringly nailed my "On Duty" road cone outside the gate.

I had to cut the tree off the car, a passing car club giving a hand.

At least it ended up off the road ...

Roll Over Rover ...

This was an early morning hunting trip, that went slightly wrong.

It happened this morning, I must have passed them going the other way.

There were two in the Ute, both walking wounded.

There were also 3 dogs on the back. We lifted it rather gingerly expecting a rather flat dog.

Happily the farmer found one, lump on head and a bit scratched. The other two were seen further down the road heading home at high speed.

The Towie took it with him. It was quite happy to go with the Ute, and the rather bent dog box.

I did eye the dog box up.

It's much more luxurious than mine ....

"School Bus Crash"

Every morning two school buses leave our yard.
One heads south to Waitara, the other north to Piopio.
They are both driven by experienced, professional women drivers.

This morning the Piopio bus rounded a corner to see a car hit a bank and spin across the road straight into the front of the bus, finally careering off over the bank.

I was buying my morning pie, when the fire siren went off.
I asked a passing truck if he had seen anything, and he said, "I think the school bus has crashed...."


Our crew arrived early on the scene, they have gone up to the top of the corner to make sure nothing comes screaming down the hill. I have grabbed some cones and set them out as volunteer firemen are still arriving. The car is over the bank by the fire engine.

There are three inside, the rear passenger is unconscious

The rescue helicopter is in the air and soon makes an appearance.
The medic crewman watches the tail rotor clearance, the ambulance officer is also directing the pilot & giving height off the ground.


It's a tricky landing, power lines cross the road here.

The words "School Bus Crash" mean rescue services arrive from miles away, coming from Urenui, Piopio, & Te Kuiti.

My very dirty truck is at the northern end of the accident scene, and the door is open so I can hear the R/T.
I can also warn approaching trucks on the CB and they will warn others further down the line.

Luckily no children or the driver were hurt, there were only five I think on the bus at that point.
They did an amazing job, warning oncoming traffic, and ringing the emergency services.

However three were seriously injured in the car, one critically.

Another reminder as to how important the volunteer rescue crews are, especially in rural areas.

It could have been so much worse, but the bus driver stayed cool and kept her bus on the road.

A big shout out to the kids too, who did all the right things...

NZH News
Radio NZ Audio

Damned If You Do - Damned If You Don't

As I was trundling merrily back home this afternoon, I came upon the local Mokau emergency services dealing with a fairly low key accident.

A car had left the road, shot down a bank, and come to a sudden stop against a bank.

The woman driving was shaken, and will have some bruises to show and have to explain to the insurance company why she left a straight stretch of road.

Thankfully it it was a "no drama" situation, and a chance to have a chat to the locals. The Towie, The Fire Brigade, The Cop, etc.

The Mokau emergency services are in the news at the moment. (No plea by officer charged with drink-driving)
They serve a big area, the terrain is rugged, things happen.

The population is small (300) but swells in summer.
The Fire Brigade is stretched for volunteers.

To be a cop in an area like this, you have to be a bit special.
Back up support is at least an hour away.
The logical place to stop a wanted car heading north, is at the Mokau river bridge.

You could get called out at 3 am to face down a P crazed loony, or a car load of gang members.

Accidents are common.

I have seen Jono call into the pub and drive people home rather than have to later bust them for drink driving.
("saves paper work")
I have also worked with him desperately to get a truckie breathing after a bee sting sent him into shock.

There are a few in the town who are anti-Jono.

There was recently a major squabble in the local fishing club, disciplinary meetings, bannings, and furious argument.

Good old small town drama

Jono is a leading light in the fishing club.

Tensions still simmer a bit, - nobody came out of it covered in glory.

So a few gleefully put the boot in.

It is instructive and depressing to see how the media deal with a story like this.

There are undercurrants and ripples that they wouldn't have a clue about.

Anyway, I wished Jono well today.


Suspended he may be, but
He was there, ... in his new uniform.

Update
Good Coverage (Checkpoint Audio)

Seaview Crash

There was a very nasty fatal accident yesterday, just north of Mokau.
It has made the front page of the local paper.
(link probably short term)
The crew were up a lot of the night cleaning up, and the road was closed for some time.
We feel it when something like this happens on our patch.
To my eyes, this one looks as if it was caused by speed & running wide on a corner.
Ironically this happened at the end of a stretch of road that has recently been upgraded, but that leads into a blind corner.
We can make roads better & safer.
We can't stop bad driving.

Alway's On A Friday ...

The Taranaki Rescue Helicopter sidles gingerly in for a landing on Mt Messenger.

It's not hard to see the skill required to safely get close to an accident scene.

A car & van collided on a slippery corner with one injured.

I had only time to grab a shaky photo, as we tried to get rid of a fuel spill.

Diesel leaking from insecure truck fuel caps is a curse on this stretch of road. This is especially true of the shady south side, which is also continually wet.
When you also add the mind set of the would-be rally driver to the mix, which this part of the road also seems to inspire, you have a potent mix, which keeps us busy.

This is one section of road that my fellow Kiwis should treat with respect.

It Bites...

2 into 1 Doesn't Go

There is a pretty mad Aunty out there somewhere.
That's her car.
The driver of a northbound truck, came into the Awakino Tunnel this morning, confronting this car, coming head on at him on it's roof.

We were still cleaning up, and I was commiserating with the truck driver, when we heard there had been another crash, abou 20Kms south.

Fridays are often like that.

Southbound Usual Corner...

I live on a corner that see's a fair bit of action.
Usually in the weekends.
It's a fairly well practised drill now.

Ensure emergency services are alerted
Stop well meaning people from getting skittled.
Get some warning out from the corner.
Grab a few names & addresses for the police
Text the missus for coffee if it looks like a long one.

Then before the Fire Engine is back at the station, post a piccy.

A sad day by the river.

Click picture for bigger version

The crash we attended yesterday is front page news in the Taranaki Daily News.(probably short term link)

The Truck was travelling north towards the camera, the car south away from the camera.

The loaded truck went over the bank in the left foreground.



The car is very close to the original impact point, but has been spun around, the truck has climbed over the car, running over the passengers side.


The front suspension on the truck, always a trucks most vulnerable point in an accident, has collapsed and the truck continued across the corner and over the bank.


Unbelievably the car driver survived with "minor injuries"


Two 50 tonne cranes are used to recover the truck.
The "Bathtub" trailer unit first.


It is a job that requires skill and orchestration


Then the truck tractor unit.


This all takes time, and traffic builds up. We have to send a truck with signs and flashers out quite some distance to warn unsuspecting drivers hurtling up to the tail of the queue.


Something that is not often seen by the public, is a blessing done at the scene when there has been a fatality.


The transporter & cranes leave, and as the traffic finally flows, we clean up.

The next day we read the local paper

In my time I have been a reporter, truck driver & road worker, but not a crash investigator, though I have seen many many accident scenes, ...It's part of my job.
Obviously my views are just that.
My views.

Having said that, ...
The wishful "heroic truck driver" steering away from disaster, is usually just wishful thinking. Nearly any major impact damages the front suspension and steering, often the spring hangers, so that the whole front axle can pivot. Physics then take over, the driver is helpless.

So, ... "While police were not prepared to speculate, several eyewitnesses had told them they believed the truck driver had averted a more serious head-on collision with the car by driving over the adjacent river bank." (Daily News)

Is rubbish.
Also there were no eyewitnesses.

"Several upset and angry truck drivers waiting in traffic yesterday morning asked why the road was not better maintained. The crash corner had not been tarsealed when other nearby roads had been, one said.

That would be because it didn't need it.

This was a sad and tragic accident, a sobering one if you are a truck driver. I believe he was confronted by a car on the wrong side of the road.

Losing The Plot

A bit of rain on a weekend and we can find the drains and water table filled with cars. There were six people killed on the roads this friday, and any number of minor crashes. Here are two I discovered this morning. Speed is an obvious factor here, both cars heading towards the camera failed to take the corner.

Both got a bloody good fright.

This looks a pretty harmless corner. On a good stretch of road.
The woman involved in this accident was OK and the car suffered little damage.
I know of two fatal accidents at this spot. (Uruti)
In one a car left the road where the man is standing and punched through two deer fences before landing inverted, killing the driver.
In another a truck went off where the car is and ran down the drain till it hit an embankment killing the passenger.

There is a long straight leading into it, so speed may be a factor, or inattention. Very puzzling.