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RNZ News
4 days ago
- RNZ News
Neighbour describes being first on the scene of triple-fatal Waiuku crash
Police on Masters Rd in Waiuku on Tuesday night. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi A Rural South Auckland resident nearby the scene of a triple-fatal crash has described coming across the aftermath at the end of his driveway. A woman and two children died when their car left the road and ended up in a body of water near Waiuku on Tuesday afternoon. Emergency services were called to Masters Road at 3.30pm. Nearby resident Billy McLean, was first on the scene , and told Morning Report he was in his shed when he heard the crash. He went down his driveway in a hurry to see what happened. "I picked up the sound of a car horn still on, but it was very... sounded like it was far away," McLean said. The crash occurred on Masters Rd in Waiuku. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi "But I knew it was close... I run down to the end of my driveway and found that that horn was attached to a car, of course, but that horn was submerged probably four feet in mud, upside down, the whole car was upside down." The car had crashed into a wetland area, he said. McLean said he tried to get into the water to help. "I know that it's not much water, it's more mud," McLean said. "There's not a hundred gorillas that could have torn that door off." The area was no stranger to serious crashes, he said. "I've lived on this road for a few years, and there has been some pretty horrendous high speed accidents here. A police car guarding the scene on Tuesday night. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi "If anyone's ever heard that sound, it kind of sounds like a truck exploding, when there's a really high impact, high speed crash." McLean said the sound of Tuesday's crash was nothing like that, and was quite subtle. "It was a strange noise that made me think 'what the hell was that'," he said. He said there were a combination of elements that made up the road, known locally as The Cuttings or the Rollercoaster Road. "It's not a wide road for a start, I mean this is a rural road, it's quite narrow for the machines, the farm equipment that is ferried up and down these roads on a daily basis." There had been many times where he'd had to pull off the road and almost come to a stop to allow larger farm equipment to pass, McLean said. "Looking at what's left at the end of my driveway there, and having dealt with accidents many times, this one doesn't look like it was speed here." He believed something could have put the vehicle slightly off the road. "These big pine trees on the other side of the road here shelter all the sun all day, so there's just thick moss growing right in the pit, right in the guts of this big steep, dangerous hill," McLean said. "It could have been a minor adjustment, and she's hit that slippery moss, gone into the water table, hit the culvert in my driveway and just sent her into the drain." "You can't get out of that water table, once you're in that gravel, you can't get out, especially on the angle of this place here." McLean said something should have been done about the road years ago. He said there were three or four safety cameras in the area but they were all placed in what he called non-fatal downhill areas, "right where they can snap you and get your revenue off you". "How about you move one of those cameras right to the brow of this hill here, where people are regularly dying, and you can actually actively save lives. "That would slow people down, for a start, and that would give a little bit of time of maybe, I don't know, three or four lives saved until this road is actually planned and laid a bit better." The road needed to be wider and cleaner, McLean said. He suggested getting rid of the cutting in the hill and making it instead go straight down, flatten, and back up again. "I know it would be hugely expensive," he said. "But, you know, what are lives worth?" Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
4 days ago
- Automotive
- RNZ News
Waiuku residents call for more speed cameras following fatal Masters Road crash
Three people died following a crash on Masters Road, near Waiuku, on Tuesday. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi A resident of a notorious road known as "The Rollercoaster" has told of the moment he came across a car upside down in water next to his driveway. Three people died on Tuesday when the car they were in left Masters Road, near Waiuku and came to rest in a nearby creek. Billy McLean was in his workshop on Masters Road when he heard an impact that sounded like a car going off the road. "It's not the first time I've heard it. It's not the first time it's happened here. "I knew what it was straight away and just ran straight down there to find the car upside down in the ditch, unfortunately." McLean, a conservation arborist, said the ditch was a deep culvert located in a dip at the bottom of a hill with wetlands on either side. "I tried my best to get them out and there was absolutely no way that that car was going to open. "There's not much anyone could have done. "Being pinned upside down in mud that was so deep. It was like, a little bit of the bottom of the door and the chassis and the wheels exposed and the rest of the whole vehicle in mud. "There's not a hundred gorillas that could have torn the doors off that car ... I tried. I tried my best but I'm not a hundred gorillas either." McLean raced back up his driveway to call 111. He said police were first on the scene within minutes and also tried and failed to get into the SUV. After that the Waiuku Volunteer Fire Brigade arrived. Emergency services at the scene of the Masters Road crash. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi McLean said the chassis on the SUV was bent and he believes the car hit the culvert at his driveway and became airborne. The 80 kilometre an hour road is an alternative route to get to Pukekohe and the crash happened at 3.30pm between Waiuku and Kidd roads. McLean said it had been raining but had stopped by the time he heard the impact. He said it was the second time in as many years there had been a fatal crash on the road, the first one killing his best mate of 40 years and father-of-six Daniel Dalgety in August 2023. In that crash, McLean said the car Dalgety was a passenger in hit a tree and he was again first on the scene to discover his friend's death. Since then he had been scared for his own family's safety when using the road. "Honestly I fear that, every time I pull out of this driveway with my family now." He said he was considering selling his home and he wanted action from road authorities. "Do something. Do something ... If they could start focusing those speed cameras on actual known death-trap sites, instead of some random corner or at the bottom of a pretty safe downhill where they're just getting as much revenue as they can. "Could they please put those cameras where it would save people's lives instead of just collecting their tax. "That would be a great start. This place here would be a good start." He described the area where Tuesday's crash happened as being akin to an "old-school BMX jump". "It's been known for years out here as 'The Rollercoaster Road'." Billy McLean says the stretch of road is a known hazard. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi Neighbour and resident on the road for four decades, Jonathan Kuttner, also referred to Masters Road as a death-trap and said he had been to a dozen crashes since the road was straightened many years ago. Kuttner, a former GP, said there was a dangerous dip and bend in the road where speeding cars could fly off and land in a bog. He said he had raised concerns with various authorities over the years and was also calling for a speed camera on the road. Kuttner said drivers often used the road to speed and he had been privy to many serious crashes and a number of close calls near his home. It was so dangerous he would only turn left out of his driveway, he said. Franklin ward councillor Andy Baker said he was aware the "well-used back road" could be dangerous but said it fell within the Waikato boundary. He said Waiuku, a rural town of about 6000 people, would be heavily impacted by the tragedy. "Everyone knows everyone. The whole town will just be reeling, no matter who it is. There'll be so many different parts of the community affected by it. It's a terrible thing." It was unclear if the victims were from Waiuku but it was believed they were members of the same family. In a statement shortly after 6pm on Tuesday, police said next-of-kin had been notified. "We acknowledge that this is tragic news for the tight-knit community in Waiuku." The Serious Crash Unit was investigating. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
