A young man critically injured after his motorcycle was smashed to pieces in a crash in central Dunedin lost his father in a highway collision more than 20 years ago.
A St John spokesman said an ambulance and a rapid response vehicle were called to a crash outside the Dunedin Railway Station about 11pm on Wednesday.
One person was taken to Dunedin Hospital in a critical condition, he said.
A witness did not realise how recent the crash was until an ambulance and a team of paramedics arrived to administer first aid to a man who was on the lawn in Anzac Square.
"It was horrible," the witness said of the scene.
A Dunedin Hospital spokesman said yesterday afternoon the man was in a stable condition in the intensive care unit.
Constable Nick Turner, of Dunedin, said a 24-year-old woman had been driving a Toyota Camry at speed in lower Stuart St when she turned the wrong way into Castle St (State Highway1) and struck a 27-year-old man who was stationary on his motorcycle.
The woman was arrested, Const Turner said.
It was travelling about 50kmh and it was fortunate there was no other traffic on the road, she said.
The woman who was allegedly driving the Camry appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday.
The woman was charged with driving while disqualified and refusing to undergo a compulsory impairment test.
She was remanded in custody until later this month.
When she appeared in the Dunedin District Court on an unrelated violence charge on Tuesday, Judge Emma Smith stood the case down for further discussions to take place and told the defendant not to leave court.
When the matter was re-called later that day, the woman did not appear and a warrant was issued for her arrest.
The injured man’s father died in a head-on-head collision on a Southland highway in 2001.
