The crash came on the final day of a week-long Counties-Manukau police clampdown on seatbelt use, during which 1000 tickets were issued.
The road policing manager for the district, Inspector Heather Wells, said many fatal accidents occurred because people weren't restrained.
"I don't think people are getting better at it, it's really disappointing," she said.
On Sunday, Lovedeep's 19-year-old cousin Tajinder Singh was driving the van, on his restricted licence. Six females were also onboard. The group's other men were at the wrestling competition waiting for them.
The van's owner, Sukhjit Kaur, who was a passenger, remembered Tajinder screaming, "The car is going out of control". She looked up to see the van spinning and heading towards the barrier, which it struck after turning 180 degrees.
After removing her seatbelt and clambering from the van, she saw Lovedeep's motionless arm protruding from the side of the vehicle.
He had been sitting in the middle of the back seat.
Ms Kaur's 20-month-old daughter Gursharan Preet escaped the crash without a scratch.
"She was quiet for an hour, but has been fine since. She doesn't fully understand what happened."
Lovedeep's mother, Harjinder Kaur, 33, sat clinging to the side door.
She was taken to Middlemore Hospital's intensive care unit with brain damage and a badly injured arm and underwent four hours of surgery.
Four days later, her head injury has improved, but she has no control from the elbow down.
Doctors told the family that damage in her shoulder was stopping messages getting through from her brain.
The young mother does not know her only child is dead. Doctors have told the family to wait until her condition improves before delivering the sad news.
"She keeps asking me, 'Where is Lovedeep, where is Lovedeep?"' said Mr Singh Lally, welling up with tears.
Yesterday, he paid tribute to his happy, active nephew. "He was always playing. He had a lot of toy cars that his mum would buy from The Warehouse."
Mr Singh Lally said Lovedeep was a very fit, strong boy, bigger than most his age.
"He was very healthy. My mother went to buy clothes for him in India and the shopkeeper asked how old he was, he thought he was about nine years [old]."
Lovedeep would often sit and have dinner with his parents at Mr Singh Lally's Wishing Well of India restaurant in Manukau.
But he would barely touch his meal "because he would talk too much with his mum", said Mr Singh Lally with a pained smile.
The family were waiting until relatives arrived from England before planning the funeral.
He said other relatives in India wanted Lovedeep's body sent there, but the family hadn't made a decision.
At the modest family home in Papatoetoe, Lovedeep's grandmother sat cross-legged on the floor weeping as she said, in her native tongue, that she was "praying to God" for her grandson.
Lovedeep's father, Ranjit Singh, was beside himself, barely able to speak.
As is customary in Indian culture, furniture had been removed from the room and a white sheet laid out.
