Emergency services were called to the crash in Martin St, Invercargill, about 9.25am yesterday after reports the shard of wood had pierced the man’s head.
However, the incident turned out to be less dramatic than anticipated, Acting Sergeant Blair Dalton, of Invercargill, said.
"He wasn’t impaled.
"An 88-year-old male driver ... looks like he may have had a medical event while he was driving.
"As a result he’s run off the road and into a wooden fence. A part of the wooden paling has come off the fence and gone through the window and hit him in the head," he said.
The man suffered minor facial injuries as a result, and was "definitely lucky".
Inquiries into the crash were ongoing, but alcohol was not thought to be a factor.
A Fire Service spokesman said firefighters from Kingswell and Invercargill attended the scene and used rescue equipment to extricate the man from his car, where he had been trapped for 20 minutes.
A St John spokeswoman said the man was taken to Southland Hospital by ambulance after being freed from his car.
Acting Sgt Dalton said no other cars were involved in the crash and there were no passengers in the man’s vehicle.
