Paige Davis felt unsafe in a car, so she insisted on getting out

Paige Davis felt unsafe and demanded to get out of a car that she considered dangerously driven.

Less than a minute later, the car was lurching down an embankment, the two remaining occupants trapped inside.

Davis, 18, said they were lucky to be alive.

Emergency services were called to Leith Valley Rd in Dunedin after reports that a car went off the road at 12:45 pm yesterday.

It was Davis who called the police.

She said she was in the car with another young woman and a man when she asked to be let out because she felt the driving was unsafe.

She described it as “skidding and flocking” on the gravel road.

After the other occupants initially tried to convince her to stay, the driver pulled over and she got out.

Less than a minute later, he heard the crash.

He ran to shore where he saw the car about 4 meters deep, resting on a stream.

He couldn’t get to them, and he couldn’t get any of them to respond to him.

“I thought they were dead.”

Emergency services arrived and firefighters were able to remove the couple and help them climb the shore with a rope.

A spokesperson for St John said two people were evaluated at the scene and found minor injuries.

Davis reflected on his decision to leave the car.

“I can’t believe I came out at the right time.”

The incident came just days after a police warning about dangerous driving and racing in Dunedin.

Sheriff Steve Tvrdeic said the young driver appeared to have lost control on the road and the vehicle had fallen off the bank.

“They were very lucky. I think if they had tried to get out, the car could have been dislodged and continued towards the creek.”

He was still working to establish whether there was any driving behavior that caused the accident.

The car would likely be canceled, he said.