Police say cause of SH2 crash north of Napier is ‘mystery’

Police say the cause of a serious accident north of Napier on SH2 is a mystery.

Two motorcyclists were traveling single file on SH2 around 10:30 am, in good weather, just north of the northern intersection of Matahorua Rd with State Highway 2 between Tutira and Napier-Wairoa at the middle of the Putorino mark.

The driver ahead realized that his traveling companion was no longer behind him, and turned around to find that his companion had crashed.

No other vehicles were involved in the crash, which shut down SH2 for more than three hours and caused a Hawke’s Bay man in his 60s to be airlifted to Waikato Hospital in critical condition.

Police are seeking information from anyone who saw the two motorcyclists prior to the accident, about what Sunday turned into a work weekend of terror on the roads of New Zealand.

Inspector Matt Broderick, the road patrol manager for the police’s Eastern District, said the crash was one of at least six Saturday and Sunday in the region, which stretches from Takapau Plains in Central Hawke’s Bay to the East Cape.

The nationwide toll on Labor Day weekend had risen to five, two more than the entire weekend last year.

The problem on the roads was not limited to crashes. Broderick revealed that 19 motorists had been pulled over for “major” speeding violations on State Highway 5 between Eskdale and Tarawera in an eight-hour police shift Friday.

Just hours after police pleaded for safer driving over the holiday weekend, amid expectations of heavier-than-usual traffic, as tourists delight in taking a break under Covid’s Level 1 restrictions .

Broderick said the crashes had limited the planned “presence” on the highway, but warned that police would be highly visible tomorrow as tourists headed home.

Sunday’s SH2 motorcycle accident happened around 10.30am, with good weather halfway between Napier and Wairoa.

The road was closed for several hours, with no detours available and growing queues of traffic over holiday weekends as rescue teams worked on the seriously injured man before he was taken by rescue helicopter to Waikato Hospital in Hamilton.

“We are calling on anyone who has seen these two motorcyclists on this road to help us with our investigation,” said Broderick.

This afternoon’s holiday weekend highway toll included a man whose ute rolled near the Whatatutu Rd bridge near the SH2 township of Te Karaka, northwest of Gisborne, early Saturday morning.

Another single-vehicle accident shut down SH35 on the east coast Sunday afternoon.