Northland police say teen fatally hit by car was lying on road

A photo of Vinegar Hill Rd, that stretches from Tikipunga to Kauri. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Northland police are investigating why a teenager was lying on a semi-rural Whangārei road at the moment he was fatally hit by a car in Whangārei.

The 15-year-old male died shortly after police arrived at the scene on Vingear Hill Rd, near Tikipunga, on Tuesday around 11.30pm.

Northland Police Senior Sergeant Shane Turner said a motorist driving home from work "saw nothing" as they came over the brow of a hill and hit the teen who was lying on the road.

There are no street lights on the narrow stretch of road where the tragedy occurred between Riversong Rd and Balmoral Rd.

"The driver thought they'd hit a log, turned around to go back and found it wasn't a log and immediately called police."

The teen died shortly after emergency services responded to the incident.

Turner said police were investigating how he came to be lying on the road.

"We don't have any of those answers yet," he said.

Police were looking into the possibility the teen may have been hit by another vehicle beforehand but there was currently no definitive information to confirm this, Turner said.

"Until we have autopsy results and so forth we're not going to know what has actually happened."