Cows cause three vehicles to crash

Phil Rooke looks at his smashed work vehicle and sighs. "Poor old van, we'd just put a new gearbox in it."

The Nissan is one of three vehicles that drove into a wandering herd of 20 dairy cattle in an early morning crash near Makihihi yesterday.

Mr Rooke is amazed and thankful no-one was killed, though five cows died and several were injured.

A truck first hit and killed one cow about 6am on State Highway 1, in a 100kmh area. Sergeant Mike van der Heyden of Waimate said that collision sent the cows running north. They rounded a corner and were hit by a light truck towing a trailer.

The passenger's side of the cab was pushed into the back of the empty seat, while the trailer jack-knifed into the path of the following vehicle, driven by Mr Rooke.

He and a workmate were heading to Queenstown for a joinery job and had a lucky escape. Their vehicle hit the trailer and several cows – one smashed the windscreen and bodywork in front of the steering wheel.

"It all just slowed down. I thought we were going around [the cows and trailer] beautifully," Mr Rooke said.

"We were bloody lucky. We went up in the air and came back down on the side of the road, just like we had pulled over."

However, under the trailer were the bodies of several cows and under the van was a pile of car doors from the trailer it hit.

Mr Van der Heyden said the cows escaped on to the road after a gate was left open. The highway was reduced to one lane as the mess was cleared up, which took about an hour.

He said it was lucky no-one was killed or hurt and police were investigating where the responsibility lay.

- © Fairfax NZ News