New Zealand Transport Agency senior engineer-heavy vehicles Bill Hyslop hopes the outcome learnt from a freak trailer accident in Taupo involving his wife Marie while on a family holiday, will prevent further incidents.
Hyslop commented to AutoMedia Group today that the irony of the accident wasn’t lost on him, as he has often has conversations about the safety of light trailers with his NZTA colleagues.
“Something good should come out of this, as yet the Police are still investigating the incident, and we have no results as yet, but I want to know what happened so we can prevent it from happening again,” says Hyslop.
On January 29 Marie Hyslop sustained critical injuries while on a morning walk in Taupo beside the lake when a trailer loaded with wood broke free from the vehicle towing it, and hit her from behind.
According to Stuff, the Hyslop’s son Liam says his mother was immediately attended by a retired police officer, and another officer on active duty, within 30 seconds of impact, and was in Taupo Hospital ten minutes later.
She was suffering from two broken legs, a fractured vertebrae, broken ribs and punctures to both her lungs according to Stuff and was later airlifted to Waikato hospital.
The Hyslop family say they were comforted that Marie Hyslop was talking while in Taupo Hospital, but stunned at the random nature of the accident.
“It left us thinking what the hell,” says her son Liam.
“How did a trailer come off a car and how was mum in the wrong place at the wrong time?”
The family are now at Waikato Hospital supporting Hyslop while she undergoes surgery.
