A man in critical condition after rolling his car has been flown to Christchurch Hospital after suffering a spinal injury, police say.
The man's vehicle tumbled 40m down a bank near Evansdale as the first frost of the year caused chaos on Dunedin roads yesterday morning.
At 8.20am yesterday, the man was driving on State Highway 1 between Pryde and Porteous Rds on the Kilmog when he slid on black ice.
His vehicle rolled multiple times and he was trapped until emergency services were able to winch him out using a helicopter.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand crews spent more than an hour working to free him with cutting equipment.
Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond, of Dunedin, said the 69-year-old was in a critical condition when airlifted to Dunedin Hospital yesterday and then flown to Christchurch for treatment for a spinal cord injury.
Yesterday’s weather saw a further eight crashes in the morning, with multiple on the motorway and on bridges.
None of the other crashes had any reported injuries, Snr Sgt Bond said.
"Black ice is particularly terrifying for any driver that hits it. If a patch of road looks wet or damp, assume it’s black ice; let your car slow down on its own, and brake gently before you get to a curve.
"If you’re unsure, drive slower; we’re not going to ticket you for driving to the conditions."
Snr Sgt Bond said there were four crashes in both lanes on the Southern Motorway between 6.30am and 7.30am because of the weather, causing significant delays and a backlog of traffic.
In Allanton, one motorist crashed into the bridge in Centre Rd due to icy conditions. The bridge had to be closed for a time so its structural integrity could be assessed, he said.
While the frosty morning had been forecast, a Dunedin City Council spokesman said the council had decided not to apply grit or chemical de-icer CMA (Calcium Magnesium Acetate) to the city’s roading network.
"Based on the forecast low being 3°C in the city, the road surface temperatures and the time of year, we decided not to use CMA or grit.
"The temperature did drop unexpectedly once the sun came up, causing some isolated areas to become icy, but by then it was too late to operate grit trucks."
The spokesman said its contractors could not be everywhere at once and the weather could always spring surprises, "as with what happened this morning".
"NZTA’s team knew [on Wednesday] that the frost and ice was coming and prepared accordingly - grit was applied on the majority of the highway network.
"The coastal Otago team was definitely the worst affected."
CMA was not used over the network because rain was forecast. At 4.45am yesterday, the coastal Otago team reported there had been a mixture of rain, snow bursts, frost and ice while they were applying the grit.
"Grit trucks were out and about all over, from Dunedin to Lindis and Kurow and from Waipahi to Milton."
Flights at Dunedin Airport were also affected by the frosty morning. Fog delayed flights and when that cleared, the frosty runway halted planes for the morning.
