Update 2.43PM: A 63-year-old Whakatane man is under observation at Tauranga Hospital following a two-car crash at Paengaroa roundabout this morning.
A red car sustained damage to its front bonnet. Photos: Zoe Hunter.
Police and St John Ambulance were called to the scene, past Kiwi 360, just after 10am today.
Bay of Plenty District Health Board communications manager says a 63-year-old Whakatane man is currently under observation in the hospital's emergency department.
Tauranga Senior Constable Bruce Gordon told SunLive at the scene a red car travelling from Whakatane towards Auckland collided head on with a silver car heading towards Whakatane.
He says the driver of the red car saw a signpost for Rotorua and drove around the roundabout in the wrong direction after getting confused.
'The lady in the silver car has been travelling towards Whakatane when she's been met head on by a male driver coming round the wrong way.”
Constable Bruce says the man has been taken by St John Ambulance to Tauranga Hospital with minor injuries.
'He's been taken to hospital for observation. He was complaining of chest pains.”
A silver and red car being towed from the scene.
A 41-year-old mother and a baby, believed to be aged six-months-old, and a boy, believed to be eight years old, were occupants of the silver car.
Bruce says all were uninjured apart from the mother who suffered bruising from her seatbelt.
All passengers were wearing their seatbelts, says Bruce.
Both cars sustained damage to the front bonnets in the incident and were towed from the scene.
According to New Zealand Transport Agency, traffic was diverted onto the new Paengaroa roundabout that replaced the old State Highway 2-SH33 T-intersection in May.
Despite the fairly new roundabout, Bruce says road rules still apply.
'Follow the road rules. The rules of the roundabout don't change even though the roundabout is new.”
It's understood the man could be charged with careless driving.
Earlier report:
Emergency services are attending to a crash involving two vehicles near Paengaroa roundabout this morning.
Police and St John Ambulance are at the scene just past Kiwi 360.
A caller to 0800 SUNLIVE says a red hatch back is involved and one other vehicle.
He says one lane is blocked and a police are diverting traffic one way via the left lane.
More on SunLive soon. Are you at the scene? Send your information and photos to newsroom@thesun.co.nz
6 comments
4th crash
Posted on 24-08-2014 17:57 | By Johnney
This is the 4th crash at this roundabout. I think all the highly paid consultants and designers and engineers have got something wrong here.
The
Posted on 24-08-2014 23:14 | By Capt_Kaveman
design is wrong to start with
Roundabout so big it is confusing
Posted on 25-08-2014 07:10 | By jed
I think the roundabout is a bit confusing too. It is so wide and big it is almost difficult to tell it is a roundabout.
Surely...
Posted on 25-08-2014 08:43 | By penguin
...there must be a design fault here? Apparently this is the fourth crash on this roundabout since its installation.
Why blame the design???
Posted on 25-08-2014 15:05 | By s83cruiser
When the toll road roundabout on SH29 was commissioned trucks were falling over there on a regular basis. Everyone threw up their hands and said the roundabout was at fault. Well hello the roundabout hasn't changed but the drivers have and that sort of thing doesn't happen there any more. If people can't handle driving around a lump of concrete in the middle of an intersection then it's time they handed in their drivers licence and got off the road and made it a safer place for other motorist by not being on it. I have ridden around this particular lump of concrete on my motorbike several times. It is nice and big and you get plenty of time to figure what other motorists are going to do, that's if they bother to indicate, it is a nice flowing intersection, nothing wrong with the design at all.
Cruiser
Posted on 30-08-2014 19:42 | By GreertonBoy
Don't be silly, the drivers are too busy texting to be able to use their indicators? The first sign before any round a bout or intersection needs to be a 'put down your phone' sign? After all it is very difficult to drive while you are texting, I mean, text while you are driving.... argh.... you know what I mean? both.... either? Maybe the gubbamint needs to spend millions more cash and have texts sent to motorists when they approach intersections or round a bouts, because drivers are usually looking at their phone instead of out of the windshield anyway?
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