Tired mother's brush with tragedy

A mother of three who almost killed her children and two young relatives when her car drifted off the road has spoken out to warn other motorists about the dangers of driving when tired.

Antoinette Ranapia, 34, of Auckland was on her way to visit her parents in Whakatane when she believes she fell asleep at the wheel.

She had had a late night and was about three-quarters of the way to her destination last Saturday afternoon when the accident happened.

Ms Ranapia was knocked unconscious and woke up lying on grass with her children scattered and crying.

"My children were to the left of me. I was on a grass verge. A helicopter was coming in to land on my right. There were a lot of people around. A lot of paramedics. It was full-on.

"I was crying, my children were crying," Ms Ranapia said. "It was so quick. I couldn't believe it."

At first, she failed to grasp what was happening.

"A few minutes later, I was still thinking, 'I'm on the grass. Here I am looking at my children, lying on the ground, crying.

NZHerald