Frosty conditions bring crashes around Otago

A blanket of frost descended on Dunedin yesterday morning, and  four car drivers lost control and crashed on Otago roads before noon.

In Dunedin city there were signs of frost, but it had warmed to 6.2degC just after 7.30am.

But  it was  12degC colder at Momona, where it was -5.8degC.

At 6.51am, police  were called to a crash on State Highway 1 between East Taieri and Allanton. A car  had slipped off the road due to ice and ended up in a paddock, but there were no traffic delays.  A St John spokesman said the driver suffered minor injuries.

Roads are icy again this morning, and the NZ Transport Agency has warnings in place for several southern highways.

• Check highway conditions here

Earlier yesterday, another driver crashed due to ice on Old Coach Rd,  between Clinton and Mataura, at 6.38am.

Police said the car rolled but its three passengers escaped with minor injuries.

Nearly two hours later, emergency services were called to a single-car crash in which  a woman suffered moderate injuries after her ute hit ice and crashed into a ditch on State Highway 1 just south of Waitati. The woman, believed to be from Waitati, was driving a black ute and lost control as she was heading towards Dunedin.

A St John spokesman said the 42-year-old woman suffered moderate injuries and was taken to Dunedin Hospital.

Traffic was down to one lane and stop-go controls were in place for a time after the crash. Later in the  morning, a driver lost control of her car on the Saddle Hill off-ramp near Fairfield. Her car spun  before crashing into a bank. A police spokeswoman said the driver, a woman in her 20s, was trapped for a brief period before being freed by fire crews. She was taken  to Dunedin hospital, but her injuries were not believed to be serious.

Police braved sub-zero temperatures before dawn yesterday to help out Dunedin motorists with complementary ice scrapers.

Residents of Abbotsford, Green Island, Kaikorai Valley and Fairfield awoke to find police had  placed ice scrapers under their windscreen wipers to help remove the thick ice caking their windscreens.