A car narrowly missed entering the Clutha River during a single-vehicle crash yesterday morning.
Emergency services were alerted to the incident on the Kaitangata highway at 8.39am, although police said the car, driven by a man in his 70s, appeared to have left the road during darkness an hour or more earlier.
Sergeant Tim Coudret said a member of the public reported the crash after spotting the vehicle at daybreak.
"The driver appears to have drifted off the road near the intersection with The Crescent Rd and come to rest in the gorse on the riverbank.
Hato Hone St John said the patient was treated and transported to Dunedin Hospital in a "critical" condition.
Conditions on the road overnight were damp, but not frosty.
After a brief closure to examine the scene, the highway reopened about 10am.
