One Brit dead and three others fighting for life after car crashes into tourist bike
A Brit has been killed and three others seriously injured after the quadracycle they were riding crashed with a car in New Zealand.
The two couples – thought to all be British tourists – were on the four-man bicycle on Puruatanga Road in Martinborough, 65km east of Wellington, around 10.45am on Thursday when the accident happened.
One person died at the scene, while the other three were airlifted to Wellington Hospital with serious injuries.
The driver of the car was reportedly not hurt and is in contact with police.
Local resident Phil McArthur, who was one of the first people on scene, told Otago Daily Times: ‘I was just heading down the road … and then I saw a scene where there were four people lying on side of the road, with a pretty written off bike.
‘There was about five or six people that got there before me, and basically we had to give first aid to a couple of, you know, pretty serious injuries, which was not very nice.’
He said the injuries were those you’d expect ‘if a car hit a bike at a reasonable speed’.
The group had hired the bicycle from Indi Bike and were planning to explore the local vineyards, according to the owner of the hire company, Wade Mines.
‘I’m absolutely devastated. I’m worried for the people involved. It’s a beautiful day in Martinborough. The bikes are easily seen. It’s unbelievable that it’s happened,’ he said
He added that in the ten years he’s been hiring the bikes out there had never been any incidents, not even ‘scuffs and bumps’.
It’s understood the group were aged in their late 40s and early 50s.
Grant Wagner, a barman, said the the town gets packed with people ‘pretty trollied on bikes’ on the weekend but there had hardly ever been a crash.
He said the crash seemed odd as he believed the road was ‘pretty safe’.
Mr Mines said the couples who hired the bike weren’t ‘party-party people’ and didn’t seem like the types to go and get drunk.
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.
Speaking today, the mayor added that the road is very wide and visibility is very clear.
Police are investigating.
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