Ice causes havoc on roads, including five-vehicle crash

Police are warning drivers in Southland to take it slow and beware of ice on the roads.

Police were called to a crash involving five cars on North Rd, Lorneville, about 6.50am yesterday. It appeared the vehicles, involving both trucks and cars, hit ice and skidded off the road near the bridge.

Nobody was injured, but the incident showed how dangerous the road conditions in the area could be on a cold morning, police said.

In a separate incident yesterday, a car skidded on black ice, rolled and hit a power pole, on Dipton Winton Highway, near Ngahere/Lady Barkly roads about 7.25am. The single occupant of the vehicle was uninjured.

At 7.40am, a car hit black ice, skidded off the road and ended up on its side on Riverton Otautau Rd, near Willow Bend Road. Two woman in the car were uninjured.

About 8am, four vehicles skidded on black ice at intersections of Elles Rd and Tweed St. The occupants also had no injuries.

Another crash, about 9am, involved a moped motorbike that slipped on ice at a roundabout on Phillips St, Invercargill.

Officer at the scene Senior Constable Tony Vincent said because it was wet overnight and then freezing in the morning, the road had frozen, causing black ice. The female driver slipped on the icy road and had minor injuries.

‘‘It’s [the road] lethal out there at the moment ... it’s like a skating rink,’’ Vincent said.

He warned all drivers to take care on the roads in the mornings, especially if it looked wet and frosty. ‘‘Treat it like black ice, because it probably is.’’

Overnight temperatures were expected to drop to minus 1 degree Celsius last night. Motorists were asked to slow down, approach shady parts of the road with caution, increase following distances and adjust to the conditions.