Ice warning: slow down before you die

CRIS JOHNSTON

ICED: Wanaka Towing Services owner Lisa Davis checks out a Morris 1100 that rolled after hitting ice on the Maungawera Hill yesterday.

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Emergency Services bosses are urging motorists to slow down before someone gets killed after five cars rolled within hours of each other after hitting black ice in Central Otago.

One person suffered minor injuries in the crashes.

Wanaka chief fire officer Steve Trevathan yesterday said the combination of a heavy dew that iced over on Monday night coupled with hoar frost and heavy fog made driving conditions potentially lethal – but drivers needed to take some responsibility for their actions.

"If conditions like this carry on, or happen again, it could very well mean we have a death on our hands rather than multiple cleanups to attend," he said.

"There's a very simple message here, and that is drive to the conditions, because anyone can see when they're bad."

Senior Sergeant Alan Grindell, of Wanaka, yesterday said his officers were tied up dealing with the crashes for the bulk of the morning.

"Just because the speed limit might be 80 or 100kmh it doesn't mean it's safe to travel at that speed, and clearly people need to slow down," he said.

The volume of crashes was a "short, sharp, pull-up" for people – even if they were not from the area, and were unfamiliar with local conditions – to adjust their driving to suit, Mr Grindell said.

The first crash happened about 4am yesterday when a car rolled after slipping on black ice on the Wanaka-Luggate highway. The second car rolled between Lake Hawea and Albert Town about 7am. The third car flipped about 9am on Queensberry Rd between Luggate and Cromwell and another rolled on Colling Rd near Tarras about 10am.

A car driven by a 70-year-old man ran off the road on the Poolburn side of Blacks Hill in the Ida Valley about 11am. The driver was taken by ambulance to Dunstan Hospital, a Fire Service spokesperson said.

- © Fairfax NZ News