St John Ambulance staff all over the country are grieving the loss of a Rotorua patient transfer officer after a double fatal head-on crash south of Cambridge in the early hours of Wednesday.
State Highway 1 is open again after 11 hours of diversions following the collision between a car and the St John ambulance.
The car's driver died at the scene and the nurse in the ambulance is recovering in hospital.
Now, the Waikato Chamber of Commerce and locals say the double fatal crash is a turning point for Waka Kotahi to implement safety improvements along the stretch of road.
Anita Hawkins lives above the crash site and heard the sound that made her heart sink.
"I knew exactly what that sound was. I've heard it plenty of times before, too many times."
Hawkins' husband ran to help - she called 111 just after 3:30am. It was eerie and silent, the driver of the sedan died at the scene, as emergency services raced to save the lives of their own.
"The rescue helicopter arrived, ambulance arrived, there was a lot happening. They were absolutely faultless with what they were doing, they were quick," Hawkins told Newshub.
St John Ambulance said its vehicle had no patients on board. Its driver, who sustained critical injuries, died late on Wednesday afternoon. Another health worker in the vehicle was also injured.
Hato Hone St John deputy chief executive ambulance operations Dan Ohs said the St John team were "devastated" and "grieving the loss of one of our own".
"What we can confirm is that the ambulance officer was a well-respected and long-serving member of the Hato Hone St John whānau.
"They are one of a very small number of ambulance officers to lose their life in the line of duty in New Zealand in the last 80 years."
Ohs said while the officer's primary role was within the patient transfer service, they were also active in their support of both Event Health Services and Emergency Ambulance.
In recognition of their service, they were admitted to the Order of St John as a Member in 2004, Ohs said.
St John would not be releasing any names at this stage as the family had requested privacy.
Locals said they've been calling for a dual carriageway - the new 110km/h expressway stops just up the road.
“Other safety improvements, having wire ropes down there could help," said Hawkins.
Waka Kotahi said safety improvements are on the way, but the Waikato Chamber of Commerce's CEO Don Good said they've heard that for years.
"Today's fatality is unacceptable. It and future accidents could be preventable if this current Government would measure the urgency to upgrade this stretch of road in terms of people's lives and wellbeing rather than in dollars."
Good doubled down in his plea, saying: "An unacceptable number of lives have been lost and others seriously injured on this stretch of road. Road users, local residents and Chambers have appealed for urgent action for the right safety measures to be put in place and have been ignored."
Good added the Chamber plans to make this a "major issue" for them to pursue "for as long as it takes the Government to finally listen".
