A BRIT has been killed and three others injured in a catastrophic crash after their shared bike was hit by a car in New Zealand.
A group of two couples were traveling on Puruatanga Road in Martinborough, which is located 65km east of Wellington. The incident occurred around 10.45 am on a Thursday.
One cyclist died at the scene after being fatally injured in the crash while the three others were airlifted to hospital with serious injuries.
According to local reports, the driver was unharmed in the incident and is in contact with the police.
Two of the injured Brits were flown to Wellington Hospital, a spokesperson for Life Flight has confirmed.
Local resident Phil McArthur who was one of the first people on scene spoke to the Otago Daily Times about the tragic incident.
One of the individuals recalled the event by stating, “I was simply driving along the road when I came across a distressing scene. There were four individuals lying by the side of the road next to a significantly damaged motorcycle.”
He further explained, “By the time I arrived, there were already five or six people present. We collectively provided initial medical assistance to help the individuals who had sustained quite severe injuries. It was a difficult situation for everyone involved.”
He added that people seemed “severely concussed” and had “injuries you’d expect if a car hit a bike at a reasonable speed”.
Inspector Brad Allen, Wellington district road policing manager, said in a statement: “The deceased was critically injured but died at the scene before they could be airlifted to hospital.
“Three other people, also on the bike, suffered serious injuries.
“Police’s thoughts, Aroha, and condolences go out to the family and loved ones of the deceased.
“The Serious Crash Unit is conducting a scene examination and inquiries into the circumstances of the crash are ongoing.”
A British High Commission spokesperson has said they were working with New Zealand police following “an incident involving British people in Martinborough.”
The group aged between their mid to late 40s and early 50s had hired the four-seater quadricycle from Indi Bikes Martinborough.
‘DEVASTATED’ LOCALS
The company’s owner Wayde Mines confirmed the news of the fatal crash involving two couples who were visiting the area.
He revealed how one couple had gone to his store to hire the bike before taking it back to collect their friends.
Mines told the Otago Times: “I met the people. Hired the bike to them. Off they went happy.”
It was not until he heard news of the crash from locals and rushed to the scene that he learned enough details from the Fire and Emergency staff to know that the bike belonged to him.
“It’s a tragedy. It’s terrible. I’ve been hiring bikes for 10 years, and nothing like this has ever happened before. Not even scuffs and bumps.”
He later told Stuff he was “absolutely devastated” and “blown away” by the incident.
He added: “It was a beautiful day in Martinborough that ended badly.
“They certainly weren’t ‘party-party, we’re gonna drink lots of alcohol on the bike and get hammered’.”
Puruatanga Road is hugely popular with tourists who wish to enjoy the area’s many vineyards and restaurants.
A worker from a local vineyard rushed to the scene after hearing the impact, saying he believed the shared bike was rear-ended by a vehicle.
The employee from Moy Hall Vineyard said it was a “nasty” accident that may have been caused by the bike being in a blind “shadow spot” out of sight of the driver of the car.
“It looked like a group of people who were just heading out into the vines like many do,” he said.
“It’s pretty upsetting.”
Local doctors and police rushed to the scene with others carrying out first aid on those injured.
The road that locals say had recently undergone work was reopened by 8.20pm on Thursday.
SAFETY FEARS
Grant Wagner, a barman at Karahui, said that it is common especially on weekends for groups to hire bikes and get “pretty trollied” as they visit bars and do wine tastings, but despite this, crashes are rare.
He told RNZ: “It doesn’t happen that often. There’s a lot of bikes on the weekend…and there’s never incidents, whereas this was pretty bad, on a beautiful day like this.
“It seems a little odd because it’s pretty safe, it’s pretty clear, it’s not bushy and I think someone was going really fast.”
It comes as local businesses have repeatedly called for a change to the speed limit on the stretch of road where vehicles can currently travel at 100km an hour.
Community board member Karen Krogh believed the incident was inevitable due to the “mix of bikes and traffic and alcohol.”
“I feel sick today because it’s like, it was an inevitability that something could be a tragedy,” she told the Otago Times.
“I just hope that … something will be done now to mitigate all this danger ’cause it’s been fairly obvious in a way that we’d come to grief at some point.”
The owner of another bike hire company, Martinborough Bicycle Hire, has lived on Puruatanga Road for 25 years and said that they had never heard of a fatal crash involving bikes on that stretch of tarmac.
“It’s a long, straight road and very wide. Normally there is plenty of room for bikes,” they told Stuff.
“On a weekend there would be hundreds of them on the road because there are a lot of vineyards and restaurants down it.
“We used to say the bikes never left the road, there’d be so many people on it.”
An investigation into the crash is ongoing and South Wairarapa Mayor Martin Connelly told RNZ that the council will wait for a police report before taking action on reviewing the speed limit on the road.
The mayor said on Friday: “It’s a very wide road. The visibility’s very clear.
“There’s a very wide grass verge on both sides, and until the police have made their conclusions about what actually caused the accident, I think this sort of discussion is very premature.”
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