Near miss for gardener in crash

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 266, 6 December 1988, Page 3

Near miss for gardener in crash

A car smashed through two gates, causing damage on three Makaranui properties and narrowly missed a woman who was working in the garden of one of the properties on Sunday evening. The 1970's model light blue Holden was driven by a young Taihape man when the incident happened, at about 7pm near the Ohakune Electricorp sub-station. After the car left the road it smashed a letterbox, four gate posts and two driveway gates, two fence posts and panels, through a garden and through a hedge, where the car came to rest. About six feet of hedge was destroyed and two fence posts in the third property were damaged. The path of the car was about 8 metres from were the woman was gardening and the front of the car was about half a metre from the third house when it finally came to rest. The driver of the car said he was travelling at about 40 kph before losing control and that the brakes of the car had failed. The section of road where the driver lost control of the car is currently under reconstruction and subject to a 30 kilometre per hour speed restriction. The driver of the car and one of the four passengers, who had remained at the scene trying to re-mobilize the car, were taken to the Ohakune Police Station for questioning.