Moerewa shaken by fatal crash

The small town of Moerewa is shaken by the death of a 54-year-old truck driver.

A 54-year-old man driving a light truck is the latest fatality on a stretch of State Highway 1 through a small community whose residents are calling for roading changes to make the town safer.

Police, fire and ambulance workers were called to Moerewa about 2.40am yesterday after a collision involving a gardening centre truck and a late model Mercedes-Benz.

Northland police serious crash investigator Senior Constable Jim Hawthorn surveyed the scene yesterday at the Nisbet St intersection.

The truck driver died at the scene. Two female passengers in the truck were taken to hospital in Whangarei, one in a serious condition, while the 19-year-old driver of the Mercedes was checked at Kawakawa Hospital.

Moerewa resident Wade Pulham said following the impact, it appeared the car had carried on past the truck and went through a fence, uprooting a tree, before stopping on the corner occupants' front door step. Mr Pulham said a loud bang had woken him.

"I looked out there and there were lights and people running everywhere. There ended up being two fire trucks, two ambulances and three police cars."

He was there when the two females were cut from the truck.

"When something like this happens, it really shakes our small community."

Mr Pulham said a local kaumatua blessed the scene with a number of locals present.