State Highway 1 just north of Hampden was closed for more
than six hours after this tractor and truck collided
yesterday afternoon. Photo by Ben Guild.
Two men were lucky to walk away relatively unscathed
after a truck and a tractor collided on a small bridge on State
Highway 1, about 3.5km north of Hampden, yesterday afternoon.
The crash closed the highway for about three and-a-half
hours, from about 4.30pm.
Constable Anton Perham, of Oamaru, said the two vehicles
collided in the northbound lane of the bridge, which crosses
Kakaho Creek.
The driver of the southbound tractor told police his front
left-hand wheel had caught the bridge's steel protective
barrier, firing his vehicle across the road into the path of
the northbound truck, Const Perham said.
Neither man's injuries were thought to be serious, although
the truck driver, a 43-year-old Timaru man, was cut out of
his cab and taken to Dunedin Hospital by rescue helicopter,
with a suspected chest injury.
Palmerston Volunteer Fire Brigade chief fire officer Geoff
Davis said it took about 30 minutes to free the truck driver.
"He wasn't held by much at all," he said.
"We were very, very fortunate and could get him out.
"He was able to walk under his own steam, which was
fantastic."
Seven firefighters from Palmerston and six from Hampden
attended, he said.
It was not the first incident he had attended near the
bridge, which lies on the south side of a wide, sweeping
corner at the bottom of a long hill.
A police spokesman said the southbound lane reopened by 8pm,
and northbound lane just before 11pm.
A police statement shortly after the crash warned no detour
was available and motorists could expect a long delay.
Within hours of the crash, traffic was backed up about 2km in
both directions.
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