Family mourns mother killed by car on Auckland's North Shore

Monday, 16 April 2018

Christine Ovens, 56, was a nature-lover and a keen conservationist.

Christine Ovens left the house just before 7.30am. Ninety minutes later, police knocked on her husband's door.

The 56-year-old was hit by a car and died while crossing the road to get to a bus stop on Thursday.

Exactly how the incident, in busy Oteha Valley Rd on Auckland's North Shore, unfolded isn't yet clear.

Christine had got up earlier than her husband Darryl Ovens and her 21-year-old son that morning.

A police car blocks Oteha Valley Rd after Christine Ovens was hit by a car.

She could be up and out of the house within 10 minutes, Darryl said.

About 7.30am, she was about to catch a bus from the North Shore into the central city, where she worked part-time at a library.

She was struck by a vehicle and died at the scene.

About 9am, Darryl was in his home office clearing emails when police officers came knocking. The couple's son answered the door.

'It was the last thing I was expecting,' Darryl said.

'It has been quite unreal. I was lucky on the first day, I don't know whether it was shock or what, but it didn't seem to affect me that much. And I say, 'lucky,' because it meant I could go through the things like formal identification and so on, and still be fairly clear.

'It's started getting me since then. Yesterday was probably one of the harder days.'

Darryl said the expression that kept coming to him to describe his wife was 'salt of the earth'.

Christine was a nature-lover and interested in conservation, volunteering her time for Forest and Bird, among other environmental groups.

She was not a flashy person. She didn't wear make-up, and liked to buy things that wouldn't wear out over time.

She also liked cooking, and she was good at it.

'She was one of those people who was not showy. She got on in doing things in the background.'

Darryl said police were still looking into the circumstances of the crash, and it wasn't yet known whether driver error was a factor, or what kind of vehicle was involved.

'They're still investigating it as I understand it. We'll probably hear from them fairly soon.'

Christine's funeral will be held at the Albany Presbyterian Church on Wednesday at 1pm.

In lieu of flowers, her family is asking for donations to be made to Forest and Bird.

So far this year, 10 pedestrians have been killed on our roads, according to figures from the New Zealand Transport Agency.

That's compared with 13 pedestrians killed during all of 2017.