Just before 1pm today, a driver from out of town over shot the stop sign at the Guntawang Road and Castlereigh Highway intersection, heading into Mudgee.

The female driver was unharmed when the white Toyota Yaris collided with the directional signs near the entrance to Gooree Park Mudgee.

Meanwhile – homes and businesses in Mudgee were plunged into darkness on Tuesday afternoon, after a car hit a power pole on Douro St.

Police believe a 47 year old female driver had a medical episode before crashing the white Kia Sportage into a pole outside Mudgee Public School, during the peak school knock off time, just after 3.00pm.

A toddler was also in the car at the time, with mum and child taken by ambulance to the Mudgee Base Hospital with minor injuries.

The crash occurred when the driver was on her way to pick up her other two school aged children.

Police are now awaiting an analysis of samples before questioning the driver to determine the exact cause of the crash.

Emergency services were unable to remove the car from the pole until Essential Energy arrived, with the site classified as too dangerous due to the live wires. 

The crash caused a major blackout in the area, with Essential Energy claiming around 1700 customers were initially affected.

The majority of businesses and homes in a central radius of the area suffered a full blackout - others as far away as the Mudgee Airport reported a flickering of lights at the time of the crash.

While emergency services secured the site and awaited the power company to arrive, two more cars collided approximately 50 metres away.

The second collision occurred on the intersection of Douro St and Denison St, just before 4pm.

Police and fire crews had to scramble to redirect traffic and clean up the debris.

Mudgee LAC Chief Inspector, Jeff Boon encouraged drivers to avoid crash sites in the future.

“Rubbernecking makes it harder for emergency services on the scene.

“Drivers need to be aware that conditions can change, and to be alert at all times,” he said.

Essential Energy arrived at the site around 4pm, an hour after the initial crash. The crew worked quickly to remove the car from the pole, before starting the restoration of power to the grid.

Some businesses in Mudgee had to close for a few hours during the blackout.

Power was returned to the majority of customers by 4.30pm, but some homes and businesses had to wait until around 7.30pm for the power to be completely restored.