Two people are fighting for their lives and another has also been seriously injured in crash at a highways blackspot between Napier and Hawke's Bay Airport.
The crash happened just after 9.15pm yesterday when a car travelling north on the Hawke's Bay Expressway turned right into SH2 on Meeanee Quay and into the path of a southbound truck.
The male driver, thought to be aged 20 and a Napier resident, was taken to hospital with his two female passengers. The two in the front seats were cut from the wrecked Nissan Primera.
The driver of the truck - fully laden with offal on a trip from Te Kuiti to Hawke's Bay - was not injured, but was in shock, police said.
Eastern Police District acting road policing manager Senior Sergeant Greg Brown said today that police were still trying to confirm identities of those in the car.
They were still investigating the cause of the crash at an intersection rated one of the worst in New Zealand, although police and road safety specialists have been mystified by the reasons for the high crash rate.
Plans are being made to modify the intersection, possibly with a roundabout, and which could rerouting traffic to and from Hawke's Bay Airport, the entrance to which is a few hundred metres to the north. It is hoped work will start in the 2016-2017 year.
Mr Brown said the road was wet and light drizzle was falling at the time, but added: "At this stage there is no clear indication as to why the crash occurred."
"It is too early to say what caused this crash, but previous crashes have generally been as the result of driver error," he said.
"Under the Safer Systems approach, road safety partners continually work to reduce the risks on our roads, and even though there are no obvious faults with the design of the intersection, people should not die because they make a mistake."
"Whilst the intersection is well laid out, there have been a number of crashes at the location, including previous fatal crashes," he said.
"For some unexplained reason it remains an intersection of concern for our area."
- Hawke's Bay Today
