Crashes are regular on rural road

Shontelle Gwerder had done the dishes and was standing in her farmhouse kitchen when she heard a bang and knew she’d have to rescue someone.

‘‘We heard the bang and saw the cows bolt and knew straight away what it was,’’ she said.

Outside her house on State Highway 3, about two kilometres north of Eltham, a van and truck had crashed at the end of the passing lane.

Gwerder, along with her daughter, ran straight out. First they checked on the truck driver, then they moved onto the van, which had spun around into a ditch, and pulled its driver out.

‘‘He was really shaken, really confused. He said he did not see the truck. He asked if he was the only one involved,’’ she said.

Yesterday’s crash blocked off one lane of the highway and caused long delays to traffic heading both north and south.

One person was taken to hospital while the other was assessed at the scene.

Gwerder said there was usually a crash each year at the same spot, about 50 metres from Beck Helicopters just north of Eltham.

Last year she rushed out to attend another crash but could not get near as the car had taken out a power pole and brought the lines down.

Yesterday, traffic was still reduced to one lane at 10.30am.

Police, fire and ambulance all attended.

Earlier in the morning three people were taken to hospital with broken bones after a two-car crash in New Plymouth.

Sergeant Bruce Irvine said the two cars collided on South Rd, State Highway 45, just south of the intersection of Barrett Rd about 7.10am.

Irvine said three people were involved in the crash and two were trapped inside the vehicles.

A police spokeswoman said the three people were transported to hospital with moderate injuries, ‘‘like broken bones but nothing life threatening’’.

The road was blocked and motorists were diverted via Beach Rd and Centennial Dr, Irvine said.