Easter toll rises; big pile-up at Culverden

Press, 5 April 1983, Page 1

Easter toll rises; big pile-up at Culverden

PA Wellington The Easter holiday road death toll rose to 10 last evening with the death in hospital of a Lower Hutt traffic officer who was critically injured in an accident on Friday. He was Stephen Perry, aged 22, originally from Auckland. He was believed to have been a traffic officer for only a year. On Sunday, a Ruatoki man died when his motorcycle left the road at 6.15 a.m., at Ruatoki, south of Whakatane. He was Nohotima Nohotima, aged 19. The toll last year stood at 13 at the end of the holiday period at 8 a.m. on Tuesday. Three people were injured in a six car pile-up last evening that blocked State highway 7 and caused a big traffic jam, near Culverden. The pile-up occurred when a car being towed on a trailer fell off on to the road on the brow of the hill, about Ikm north of the Hurunui Bridge. Emergency services at Culverden were called at

7.21 p.m. and police, fire, and ambulance personnel attended. Of the three people injured, two were taken to Christchurch Hospital with minor injuries. The third did not need hospital treatment. It took more than 30 minutes to clear the road after the accident, and holiday traffic returning from Hanmer Springs and the West Coast built up for 3km. The chairman of the Amuri sub-centre of St John Ambulance, Mr Ken Mclntosh, said he was amazed that more people were not injured in the accident. “It was quite remarkable,” he said. “All the cars were badly damaged — they had to haul them off the road.” Three of the cars were “concertinaed” by the impacts. Mr Mclntosh said the Amuri sub-centre’s emergency vehicle proved invaluable because its only ambulance was away on another call at the time of the accident. 'The vehicle took ambulancemen to the scene, provided flood-lighting, and

carried the injured to meet another ambulance. “It certainly proved the worth of having an emergency vehicle in the district,” he said. The pile-up was the only serious accident during what the Ministry of Transport described as a heavy but orderly movement of Easter traffic in Canterbury. Some problems were caused by caravans travelling in groups which led to traffic build-ups and risky overtaking. Christchurch Ministry of Transport officers attended 20 injury accidents and nine non-injury accidents between 4 p.m. on Friday and 9 p.m. last evening. A man was arrested and charged with assaulting two traffic officers on Papanui Road last evening. Police said the man was stopped and tested for excess blood alcohol before the alleged assault occurred. Neither of the traffic officers were badly hurt.

A young woman suffered moderate injuries when the car she was travelling in went down a bank off Leader Road, Kaikoura, about 11 a.m. yesterday. Kim Lucy Eriksen, aged 21, of Hornby, was in a satisfactory condition in Christchurch Hospital last evening. Alan Hubbard, aged 21, of Sydenham, was admitted after suffering moderate arm and leg injuries, when his motor-cycle and a car collided on the approach to the Lyttelton road tunnel about 2 p.m. yesterday. Traffic on Mid-Canter-bury roads this Easter had been heavier than usual, but well-behaved, said Traffic Sergeant R. G. Herridge of Ashburton. Only one Easter accident had been reported, on Thursday night, when two cars collided on the corner of East Street and Walnut Avenue. There were no injuries. Officers concentrated on detecting alcohol-impaired drivers on Saturday evening. Of the 40 breath screening tests given to 9 o’clock last evening, 19 were on Saturday evening. Thirty evidential screening tests were conducted, 19 blood samples were taken, and there were seven arrests.