A woman says her and her daughter are lucky not to be seriously injured after a car spun out of control at a Northland car racing event, pushing a barrier into them.
Anita Rossiter and her 17-year-old daughter were enjoying a day out at the Northland MEGA street sprints on Sunday in Whangārei when they were injured in a crash.
"There were plastic barriers and hay bales separating us from the road and at the time I didn't think much of it," Rossiter said.
"We watched the cars and decided to watch one more and then head home when it happened.
"My boyfriend actually joked that it would be funny if the car crashed into us and then I saw a Corvette come round the corner drifting. I thought it was coming a bit close and then it just all happened so fast."
The car crashed into the hay bales, causing the plastic barrier to push into Rossiter and her daughter, she said.
They were both thrown to the ground.
"I felt the impact shake through me and my ears were ringing, it was crazy. People came over immediately and pulled the barrier off my daughter and checked we were okay, it was all kind of a blur because of the adrenaline I think."
The car spun out and crashed into a barrier where spectators were standing. Photo: SUPPLIED
The pair were checked by medics at the site, Rossiter said, as her daughter had "massive" bruises forming already, and were told to go home and rest.
"We got home and my mum called me after seeing a video of what happened and told me I needed to got the emergency department to get checked over immediately."
It turned out Rossiter's arm was broken and she had a concussion. She said her daughter was lucky to not have broken any bones and just had extensive bruising.
Rossiter said she was surprised no organisers of the event had been in touch following the accident.
"I used to work in adventure tourism and always followed up after incidents the next day, but there's been nothing.
"I'm pretty sore and my daughter's bruises are horrendous, but if it had been a little kid standing where we were things could've been so much worse."
Despite her injuries, Rossiter said she had not been put off attending car racing events.
"There were heaps of signs around saying as a spectator it was a risk and there's always going to be hazards at these kind of events, but you'd hope things like this wouldn't happen.
"Since it was a straight bit of road they probably thought it was fine, but you can't risk people's lives."
Rossiter said she felt "lucky to be alive" after watching the video of what happened.
"Hopefully this incident will change something for the next event."
Event organiser Dr Jacob Simonsen said the incident was being "looked into" and the barrier did what it was supposed to.
"We're waiting on a report from the medics, but we'll make sure we investigate."
The event overall was "fantastic", Simonsen said, with only "one minor incident".
"It can be dangerous and accidents do happen but we try to minimise it. The large hay bales protected everyone from serious injuries, but we will look into getting crowds to stand further back from the barriers and not lean on them.
"The support from the community for this event has been unbelievably good."
