A woman was taken to hospital Friday afternoon after her vehicle left the South Island Highway and flipped before coming to rest in the corner of a residential yard.
No other vehicles were involved in the accident, and no passengers were in the car. The woman was conscious and alert when fire department and ambulance personnel extracted her, but no other details about her condition was available.
The car, a silver Mercedes hatchback, was traveling southbound in the Stories Beach area at around 12:30 p.m. when it rolled into the ditch on the right-hand side of the road while going around a corner.
"The driver who was following her said she came around the corner and just kept turning," said Erling Jorgensen, who lives in the area and came to the scene after he and other residents heard "a loud bang."
After the car entered the ditch, it continued to travel forward until hitting the edge of the driveway at 3906 S. Island Hwy and flipping. The car landed back on its wheels and knocked down a small section of wooden fence — narrowly missing a pair of utility poles — before stopping against a copse of brush.
Police, fire and ambulance personnel quickly attended the scene, stabilized the patient and transferred her from the car to an ambulance. Neighbours from the surrounding area also appeared, and one of them produced a pair of lopping shears to help clear the bushes around the car where first responders worked.