Two people injured in separate car crashes at the same Cromwell intersection, eight weeks apart, remain in hospital, while changes are already under way to improve safety at the site.
The two most recent crashes at the intersection of State Highways 6 and 8B involved overseas drivers, travelling on SH8B, both of whom turned right on to SH6 towards Wanaka, failing to give way to a vehicle travelling straight through on SH6 from Wanaka to Queenstown.
The crashes happened at the same place, about the same time of the evening (5.45pm-5.50pm).
The first, on January 12, resulted in two fatalities and the second crash, on Thursday this week, was a "split second away" from being fatal, Constable Chris McAnally said.
A 67-year-old Irish man, driving a Land Rover which collided with a bitumen tanker at the intersection on Thursday, remained "under observation" in Dunstan Hospital yesterday, Const McAnally said.
The man's wife was uninjured, as were the occupants of the truck.
Five fruit-pickers from China and Taiwan, travelling in one car, were the most seriously injured in the January accident.
The driver of the car, which collided with a courier van, died at the scene and one of the passengers in the car died in hospital later that night.
The sole occupant of the van received minor injuries, as did the car's front-seat passenger.
Another passenger spent several weeks in Dunedin Hospital before being discharged.
The remaining passenger, a 28-year-old Taiwanese woman who received pelvic and head injuries, is still in Dunedin Hospital, and was reported in a stable condition yesterday.
New Zealand Transport Agency Central Otago area manager John Jarvis said the speed limit at the two highway approaches to Cromwell was cut from 100kmh to 80kmh within days of the fatal accident.
The size of the give way signs at the intersection was increased and double yellow lines were painted on the road to make the lanes clearer.
The agency was reconsidering whether there should be stop signs instead of a give way, he said.
It was also planning to make the left-turning lane from Wanaka on to SH8B further to the left, to separate it more from the through lane for traffic and improve visibility. Talks were under way with the owner of the neighbouring vineyard for the land needed and he was confident that would happen.
The agency wanted to buy enough land to allow for a possible roundabout at the site in the future, Mr Jarvis said.
"We don't own that land as road reserve so we can't rush in and do it tomorrow, but hopefully, there will be something in place, at least by Christmas."
