An out-of-control Subaru station wagon jumped a kerb, crashed through a fence and dropped to stop vertically "on its nose" with its young female driver and three passengers inside in Dunedin's snow yesterday.
The driver and passengers, two male and one female, were unharmed but declined to talk to The Otago Daily Times yesterday.
Knox College resident George Backhouse (18) and his friends were close to the crash.
Mr Backhouse said he and three friends were driving up Signal Hill Rd to snowboard down and stopped on the corner by McGregor St to put on snow chains.
He heard a car horn repeatedly tooting and saw a stationwagon sliding at "all angles" down Signal Hill Rd, Mr Backhouse said.
Children were playing on the roadside as the station-wagon careered down the road, he said.
Fellow Knox College resident Sam Wilkinson (18) was sitting in the parked car and saw the car coming towards them, Mr Backhouse said.
"It looked like it was heading straight for us. It was the scariest thing."
Mr Wilkinson made the snap decision to leave the car but the stationwagon veered away from the car, and towards the escape route of his fleeing friend.
"He [Mr Wilkinson] rolled over the bonnet ... he made a bad call."
Mr Wilkinson hurt his leg but was otherwise uninjured. The four people in the crashed car were "shaken", he said.
Opoho resident Richard Fraser said he heard a loud noise when the Subaru crashed in his garden.
"The car had gone over the edge and was standing on its nose."
When he went outside there were people inside the Subaru trying to keep it balanced.
Hours later, on the other side of the city, a Mitsubishi sedan teetered on the edge of a bank on Eglington Rd with a man, his wife and child inside.
"It was so scary. It was real close," the father said.
A fire truck with chains on the rear wheels dragged the sedan to safety.
Dunedin area road policing manager Senior Sergeant Phil McDouall said people were taking unnecessary risks and failing to driving to the conditions.
There had been several minor crashes but nothing serious.
"A lot of them involved people sliding down hills, hitting parked cars and curbs and then blocking the road and another car sliding in to them . . . a lot of panelbeaters are going to be busy."
Motorists should use their common sense and consider the excess on their insurance policy before deciding to drive.
If the bad weather continued motorists must assess if they needed to use their vehicle, he said.
People could walk but should wear socks over their shoes or grip pads.
Each individual should assess their driving ability, the ability of their vehicle and the terrain of where they were driving.
"And then make their own call."
