Opshop frontman Jason Kerrison describes collision with cow on State Highway 1, Mangamuka
Opshop frontman Jason Kerrison says his wife and daughter were the first things he thought of when his car collided with a cow in Northland on Sunday night.
The musician was driving north towards the Mangamuka Gorge in the Far North about 11.30pm when wandering stock suddenly appeared in front of him.
His vehicle, travelling about 100km/h, smacked into one of the cows, which Kerrison believed was thrown about 30m before his car rammed into the bank.
“In that fraction of a second when I saw those animals in front of me, I genuinely thought, this is it,” Kerrison said in a Facebook post today.
“My life didn’t flash before my eyes. My wife and my baby girl did. Their faces just flashed in front of me. That was scary.”
A shaken Kerrison checked his body.
“There was blood coming from a laceration on my arm, but my legs were working, everything seemed to be moving, and incredibly I was able to get myself out of the vehicle,” he said.
Kerrison called 111, which dispatched police and Hato Hone St John.
By then, he could look back at his car.
“The front of the Santa Fe was absolutely destroyed. There was glass everywhere through the passenger side of the cabin and across the passenger seat, yet somehow I had no glass on me and no cuts from it.”
Cow blood was splattered on the vehicle, his clothing and himself.
“Looking at all of that afterwards was pretty confronting,” he said.
“The passenger-side footwell was badly crushed, the airbags had deployed, and the entire front of the vehicle had absorbed an extraordinary amount of energy before it reached me.”
Nearby residents came down to check on him when their dog was alerted to the noise and “went crazy”, he said.
“They helped get the cow off the road and stayed around while everything was being dealt with. I’m incredibly grateful to them for coming out and helping in the middle of the night.”
Kerrison was taken to Kaitāia Hospital by ambulance, where he was kept overnight for observation.
“The adrenaline and the pain relief from last night have worn off now and I’m definitely feeling it,” he said.
“The areas where the seatbelt caught me are pretty sore, the right side of my back is hurting, my face certainly knows it met an airbag, and I generally feel like I’ve been through a fairly serious fight.”
He said the one thing he kept coming back to was that he was alive.
“Between the airbags, the seatbelt, the engine bay, and the structure of that Santa Fe, I genuinely believe that vehicle saved my life.”
He believed he wouldn’t be alive if he had been driving his van that night.
“There simply wouldn’t have been the same amount of vehicle between me and that cow.
“Looking at what happened to the front of the Santa Fe, I am pretty certain that if I had been sitting much further forward with very little in front of me, I would have died.”
Kerrison said he was “incredibly angry” to hear from police that the stretch of road he crashed on was notorious for wandering stock.
Kerrison said police told him that days earlier another motorist had struck three cows in the area.
“Livestock wandering on a 100km/h state highway in the middle of the night is not a minor problem. It is potentially lethal,” he said.
“Whatever the circumstances that led to those cattle being on the road, this simply cannot keep happening.”
Kerrison encouraged people with livestock to check their fences, maintain them and take responsibility for containing them.
“A person driving normally down a dark state highway has almost no chance when a large animal suddenly appears directly in front of them.
Someone is going to be killed. Or, more likely, already has been."
He was thinking about his loved ones today, he said.
“For a fraction of a second last night, I genuinely believed I was never going to see any of them again.”
The NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) said wandering stock continued to be an issue on the Northland state highway network.
The agency has received 163 reports of wandering stock in the region so far this year, of which 121 were in the Far North District, 26 in Whangārei, and 16 in Kaipara.
An NZTA spokeswoman said wandering stock could create serious safety risks for motorists.
Responsibility for keeping stock contained sat with the owner, she said.
“We encourage farmers and stock owners to regularly check their fencing, ensure gates are closed, and repair any damage as soon as possible.”
People can report wandering stock via 0800 4 HIGHWAYS (0800 44 44 49).
Far North District Council has been approached for comment.
Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.