“It took a moment for me to register what the hang was going on until I saw the bulls move and realised we had collided,” Green said.
Two people came across the scene about five minutes later and helped her.
They suggested taking her for a check-up, but she declined.
The bulls were still alive, and the men who stopped to help shooed them off the road.
“My car was still able to drive, but not safely, and one of the kind men offered to take me home, and the other [to] drive, but I couldn’t open the door properly to get out, so I decided to stay in the car until I got home. One of the men drove in front of me and the other behind me in convoy.”
What was usually a 20-minute drive from there to Rangitukia, 25km northeast of Ruatōria, took them more than an hour.
Three hours before the accident, the 85-year-old had just been issued a warrant of fitness after spending $2000 on her Holden Captiva.
Green said, after speaking with her insurance company, that the car was probably going to be a write-off.
“I am a bit sad because I have no car at the moment. I am an independent person for my age and rely on it for medical reasons because I live rural,” she said.
In the meantime, she still needs to get to Four Square Ruatōria for necessities.
She felt lucky to be okay after the accident, but still has a sore back and shoulder.
“I make this drive at least once a fortnight, so I am very familiar with the roads,” she said.
“We don’t know whose bulls they were, unfortunately, or which farm they belonged to.”
She made a report to Ruatōria police the following day, but she still doesn’t know who owns the stock.
Georgina Green’s damaged car is probably going to be written off after she collided with two bulls on State Highway 35.
Speaking to the Gisborne Herald last year, Gisborne freight driver David Connell said he believed the issue of roaming stock was worst on the East Coast.
Data from the NZ Transport Agency and the Gisborne District Council (GDC) showed there were more than 450 incidents of roaming stock in just over a year on the region’s local roads and state highways.
Green wants something to be done about the issue of roaming stock on Tairāwhiti roads.
“When I spoke to local farmers, no one seems to want to take responsibility.
“I think the stock could’ve wandered down the stream, but they shouldn’t be able to access the stream, so that is also an issue.”