Akaroa chief fire officer Mark Thomson has spoken to The Star about how lucky the family from Utah in the United States was.
Their vehicle slipped off the shingle Duvauchelle Stock Route, and was only stopped from plummeting 100m by trees which brought the car to a halt.
When Thomson’s crew got to the scene, the driver had managed to get out of the vehicle but the rest were trapped inside.
“They were hanging upside down staring down that drop, so they were very scared and worried,” said Thomson.
“If the trees weren’t there, they would have carried on for quite some time. It would have been a completely different result.”
The group were relatively unscathed from the ordeal, which happened last Wednesday about 1.30pm.
When firefighters got to the scene it was clear the car could still fall.
“They weren’t safe from falling until we used the winch to secure the vehicle. They calmed down a bit, but even then they were still very worried,” said Thomson.
The family was about 300m along the stock route from the Duvauchelle settlement when the car’s outer wheels went into a soft edge of the gravel road, causing it to slip two metres down a steep drop, where it came to a rest against the trees.
The middle-aged male driver managed to escape the car but the other four passengers remained trapped until they were freed by the fire crew using the jaws of life. The rescue took just under an hour.
“They were very shaken up about it. Our job was just to keep them calm until we could get them out,” said Thomson.
“They were very, very relieved and very grateful. They couldn’t believe we were volunteers.”
Thomson said the 88-year-old managed to get herself out when a window was removed by the fire crew.
Thomson said he supports additional signage on the stock route warning drivers about the risks of the soft edging.
He said GPS can cause issues by guiding motorists to the shortest routes, which might not always be the safest.
“What you’ve got to do is put in the shortest route excluding gravel. A lot of tourists don’t think about GPS, it will take you the shortest route no matter what the roads like.”
Akaroa police senior constable Anita Osborne said the major factor contributing to the crash was the condition of the road edge.
She said the driver was not speeding or being careless.
Maintenance of unpaved back roads like the Duvauchelle Stock Route can push gravel to the edge, making the road look wider, said Osborne.
“The grass grows up and looks like a solid part and it isn’t. A drive past road inspection doesn’t always pick this up.”
City council streets maintenance manager Steve Guy said council engineers have assessed the site and are considering what could be done to strengthen the road’s edge.
“Additional signage and sight rails are being considered,” said Guy.
Osborne said city council contractors have set up a temporary warning sign at the crash site at her request.
