Woman, 24, killed in Waikato crash days before Xmas

Wednesday, 20 December 2017

A friend was travelling ahead of a woman who was killed after losing control and sliding across a Waikato highway into the path of a truck. 

He noticed a flash in the rear vision mirror and realised the 24-year-old was not behind him so he doubled back and found the crash scene.

His friend's injuries were not survivable.

The Tauranga woman had been travelling in convoy with two other friends in another car ahead travelling along State Highway 29 north of the Piarere intersection shortly before sunrise on Wednesday.

READ MORE: Four die in overnight crashes

As she headed north-east along the highway she appeared to have lost control entering a 75kmh bend, Sergeant Dean Kaio said.

'The road was wet at the time, after a recent downpour,' he said at the scene.

'She's come around the sweeping right-hand bend and lost control, drifting across the centre line onto the wrong side of the road.'

The car slid sideways and slammed into the front of the oncoming truck.

'The car has hit on the B-pillar and the rear too, causing the driver to hit the face of the truck side on.'

The force of the truck pushed both vehicles an estimated 30 metres down the road.

Kaio said the woman was trapped in the vehicle and died shortly after the collision.

Damage to the vehicle was so severe Kaio could not say whether the woman had been wearing a seatbelt.

Police were now looking to speak to her family and friends to find out where she had been and was heading.

Either way they would be without their loved one less then a week before Christmas.

'It's just tragic, right before Christmas.'

It was later revealed that two of the woman's friends were travelling in another car ahead of her. 

They were rounding another right hand bend up ahead in the road when they noticed a flash of light come across the rear vision mirror, Kaio said. 

'They had a feeling something was wrong and turned about.'

Kaio believes that speed, given the conditions on the road and the reduced speed corner, was a likely factor in the crash.

'When there's been a dry period and then it rains the roads can become like an ice rink with the build up of oil, it makes it a little more treacherous.

'Its all about driving to the conditions. We know wet weather after a dry spell makes the roads treacherous, especially in the rural areas like the Waikato where we have bends to negotiate - drive to the conditions.'

The logging truck driver was uninjured but shaken by the collision and had been taken back to Matamata police station to be interviewed. 

'It's obviously a traumatic experience.'

The fatality was one of four in a night of carnage on NZ roads. 

Two died in separate crashes in the lower South Island and another in Tauranga where a car slammed into a pine tree. 

Another 21-year-old man was left in a critical condition after coming off his Harley Davidson in a collision with a car on Heaphy Tce. 

He was travelling north along the Fairfield Rd on Tuesday night when a car pulled out of a side street. 

The two vehicles collided, sending the motorcyclist onto the road. He remained in a critical condition on Wednesday.

On the eve of the Christmas break this was a stark reminder to be careful on the roads this holiday season, Waikato road police Senior Sergeant Pete van de Wetering said. 

Driver inattention and speeds were two of the biggest contributors to serious and fatal crashes, he said. 

Using cellphones was another killer. 

'Often I see people driving along chatting away with their eyes on their phones. Drivers need to put down those phones.'

So far this year 363 people have died on New Zealand's roads. At the same time last year 310 lives had been lost. 

The official Christmas period begins at 4pm on Friday and runs until 6am on January 3. 

During last year's Christmas period there were 15 fatal crashes and 313 injury crashes. Those crashes resulted in 19 deaths, 104 serious injuries and 374 minor injuries.

The year before, 12 people died in 11 fatal crashes.