A MAN was killed and eight injured in 16 hours of mayhem on the roads.

One driver was flown to hospital with serious injuries following a head-on crash between two cars near Ringwood yesterday.

Hampshire Police were called to the B3347 Ringwood Road in Bisterne just after 8am with reports of a crash involving a black BMW and a blue VW Polo by the turning for the Stable Family Home Trust.

Fire crews were requested to cut the roof off the VW before the male driver could be airlifted to Southampton General Hospital by the Thames Valley Air Ambulance with serious, but not life-threatening injuries.

Meanwhile the female driver of the BMW was taken to Poole Hospital by land ambulance.

Motorists were being directed to use a turning space before the crash to head back towards Sopley to continue their journeys.

PC Dan Golding from Hampshire Police's roads traffic policing unit, based in Totton, said that there were no passengers in either of the vehicles. He added that forensic collision investigation officers were working to establish the cause of the crash.

Recovery was requested for both vehicles. The road was cleared by midday.

Five people were seriously injured after a crash which closed the A350 Blandford Road North for over eight hours.

Dorset Police were contacted at 11.45pm on Thursday evening with reports of the incident which involved a blue Vauxhall Insignia and a blue Vauxhall Tigra.

The 29-year-old female driver of the Vauxhall Tigra sustained serious injuries and was taken to Southampton General Hospital to receive treatment.

A 23-year-old man from Poole, who was driving the Vauxhall Insignia, was taken to Poole Hospital with serious injuries, along with three passengers including two 26-year-old women and a 28-year-old man.

Police closed the A350 between the Roundhouse Roundabout on the A31 and Limberlost on the A350 until 7.45am to allow ambulance and fire crews to assist the casualties.

Sergeant Phil Lee of the Alliance Road Policing Team at Dorset Police thanked motorists for their patience during the road closure, which he said was necessary to allow emergency services to deal with the incident and collision investigators to examine the scene.

Four vehicles crashed in the eastbound lane of the A35 near the Holes Bay roundabout just before 8.40am, which led to traffic queuing back to the Baker's Arms Roundabout. Nobody was injured as a result of the smash.

It involved a grey Toyota Avensis registered to a man from Weymouth, a green Vauxhall Polo registered to a woman from Swanage, a white Renault Kangoo registered to a man from Holton Heath, and a blue BMW registered to a woman from Wareham.

The local authorities were contacted to clear an amount of oil which had spilled onto the road surface.

Shortly before 2.15pm, a motorcyclist from Bournemouth suffered arm injuries after his grey Kawasaki bike was involved in a crash with a grey Nissan Juke on the A351 at Holton Heath.

Long delays built in the area after the collision.

A 44-year-old man died at the scene of a crash on the A37 near Dorchester after the blue Peugeot 306 he was driving left the road and hit a hedge just after 2.45am. His family have been informed and the coroner notified.

Officers from Dorset Police closed the A37 between The Weirs roundabout and the Charminster junction for several hours while collision investigators examined the scene.

Early morning commuters were delayed driving on the M27 eastbound after a car collided with the central reservation just before 6am.

There was debris across the width of the road, leading to three lanes of the motorway being closed by police, while motorists were forced to use the hard shoulder to drive past. Traffic was tailed back past Stoney Cross with the road being cleared by 8am.

A two-vehicle crash blocked the B3078 Cranborne Road at around 1.50pm. A blue BMW and a blue Volkswagen were involved.

The casualties were described as 'walking wounded' by a spokesperson for Dorset Police.