Spectacular accident

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 2, Issue 18, 2 October 1984, Page 1

Spectacular accident

Two Australian visitors from Granville, a suburb of Sydney, had a most dramatic introduction to the Waimarino on their first evening here when they witnessed and were nearly victims of a spectacular road accident. Keen skiers and joggers, Patrina Daly and Tom Gable decided to go for a run soon after they arrived in Ohakune in their Newman's campavan. They parked in the Borough motor camp, changed into running gear and, headed westward along the Tohunga Road. As they jogged into the steep-sided cutting just beyond the local refuse tip, they saw a car suddenly appear over the brow of the hill travelling towards Ohakune. The car appeared to swerve violently on the loose metal shoulder of the road and the two joggers prepared to take evasive action thinking that it may have been driven by someone who 'got their kicks' by intimidating joggers ... a phenomenon they had experienced before. So it was a complete surprise when the car suddenly slewed across to the opposite side of the road, ran up the steeply sloping sides of the cutting 'a la Monza' and rolled a couple of times before landing back on the road slid along on its roof and came to rest practically at the feet of our amazed Australian visitors. Fortunately none of the five occupants were seriously injured even though the car,

a Ford Telstar, was badly damaged. The driver, Mrs Agnes Ryan of Auckland, sustained a slight injury to her head. Her story was that as she came over the brow of the hill she was surprised to see a couple of joggers ahead of her. She swerved to avoid them and in doing sq apparently over-corrected the front wheel drive Telstar which then ran onto the loose metal beside the road. Once this four wheel drive

type of vehicle loses traction and starts skidding "it is very difficult to get under control and requires a completely different driving technique," said Ohakune's traffic officer Graeme Cole who attended the accident. Ohakune firemen and police were also there and they, with traffic officer Cole, expressed surprise that no-one — neither the occupants of the car nor the two joggers — had been seriously injured.