A 14-year-old boy died at the scene after his bicycle collided with a milk tanker trailer in Moerewa in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The teenager's family were first on the scene, arriving within minutes of the collision. They were with him when he died.
The collision occurred as the boy rode out of Wynyard Street into George Street (State Highway 1), the bicycle hitting the north-bound tanker's trailer.
Senior Constable Jim Hawthorn, from Whangarei's Serious Crash Unit, who inspected the undamaged tanker and trailer at Fonterra's plant at Kauri on his way north to the scene, said the corner was well lit. It was not known why the teenager, who lived nearby, was out riding his bike at 1am, or how he came to smash into a highly visible milk tanker.
It was the second cycling fatality in Northland in a week, coming seven days after a 66-year-old Aucklander died after being struck by a four-wheel-drive vehicle at Ruakaka. It took the Northland road toll for the last month to four, and for the year so far to 11, four more than the province's record low toll of seven for all of last year.
