The single vehicle accident occurred on Nethercote Road close to the junction of the Princes Highway and where the road runs alongside the Yowaka River.

Police said that the woman reported swerving to avoid an animal, lost control of the car which then plunged into the river.

Fortunately the woman was able to get out of the car and was unhurt, police said.

On Tuesday morning, January 5, police and tow truck operators were at the river side to extract the vehicle from about 1.5 metres of water. The operation took almost two hours while tow truck operators located the car in the river and attempted to pull it onto the bank.

Police said it was the second such accident in six months and suggested that barriers at the corner of the road could be useful.

Shane Goddard, of Pambula NRMA, who spent time in the water locating the vehicle and attaching the winch several times after the load proved too much, agreed.

“We get called out there about two to three times a year and the guys at Eden are the same. There must be about four to eight accidents a year on that stretch of road. It definitely needs a guard barrier,” he said.

In other news police said that it was a near incident free New Years Eve.

For the evening police had six police patrolling the Bega Tathra areas, 12 police in the Merimbula Pambula areas and another four police at Eden.

Chief Inspector Tony Moodie, of Bega Police  said that in total 22 police were available to immediately respond to any incident within the three sectors.

“There were a number of persons moved on from certain areas due to their intoxication and or behaviour. At Ford Park there was a number of incidents of pushing and shoving between young people, however these incidents were quickly de-escalated by the quick involvement of police on scene. Overall though a pleasant night with a great crowd,” Inspector Moodie said.