Baby's parents unaware of death

The parents of a 6-month-old baby killed in an Easter car crash did not know she had died until they began recovering in hospital.

Kalaisha Matangireia Princess Hale, the great-grand-niece of entertainer John Rowles, died on Sunday from injuries received in a three-car pileup on State Highway 34 near Kawerau on Saturday evening.

Her parents, Ricky, 27, and Katerina, 21, both suffered serious injuries and remain in a stable condition in Tauranga Hospital.

Kalaisha was among the 11 Easter holiday road victims - the highest toll since 1993.

Fraser Douglas Nathan, 23, from central Hawkes Bay, was also killed in the Kawerau crash. The Holden Commodore he was a passenger in clipped the Hale family's Toyota Hilux ute from behind.

A close relative of the Hale family said they were travelling to visit whanau in Waiohau, south of Kawerau, where they were brought up. If they are well enough today they will bury their only child at the Waiohau marae.

To the frustration of the family, the parents were initially sent to different hospitals on Saturday night, while the toddler was airlifted to Starship in Auckland. The parents were reunited on Monday in Tauranga, when the tragedy sank in.

Kalaisha was described by family as a shy, smiling child, who studied people carefully.

"She was the first child, and a special one, who had amazingly glorious black hair, and the blackest, most beautiful eyes. She was exceptional to look at, and to touch," said a family member, who did not want to be named. "We used to make jokes about the family paparazzi that followed her everywhere she went."

The arrival of Kalaisha had a profound effect on the father, who had cared for her fulltime since her birth in September.

"It was astounding how protective he was. It became a thing throughout this land, and our people, how expert a father he was. The mother was equally gracious."

Constable Mike Chelley, a crash investigator, said the toddler was properly restrained in a baby seat.

The Holden Commodore had shunted the Hale family's car off the road while overtaking at "considerable speed", said Mr Chelley.

Speed and alcohol were factors in the crash, he said.

The Easter road toll rose to 11 after a 51-year-old woman cyclist had her life support turned off overnight on Monday after being injured in a crash in Christchurch on Saturday morning.

Police also yesterday found the body of a 17-year-old male driver down a bank near Tiniroto on the inland road between Gisborne and Wairoa, following what they believe was a single-car crash on Sunday night.

The two people killed in Sunday's Dome Valley crash were Auckland motorcyclist Steven Gorrie, 38, and a Japanese man riding as his pillion passenger, whom police have yet to name.

That crash brought a call from Rodney Mayor Penny Webster for the immediate upgrade of the Puhoi to Wellsford highway, where the Government plans to build a motorway and expressway for up to $2 billion over the next 10 or so years.

She lashed out yesterday at criticism of the project as "petty politics being played out by self-indulgent, Auckland-based local and national politicians".

"It is just arrant nonsense for these critics to dismiss this vitally important and strategically significant part of New Zealand's state highway as merely a 'holiday highway'," she said.

At least 19 people died in crashes in the Dome Valley area between 2001 and 2006.

The Easter toll was four higher than that of last Easter.

A spokeswoman for Transport Minister Steven Joyce said a package of recommendations aimed at young drivers was already "in the Cabinet process and will receive final Cabinet consideration in the next couple of weeks". She said a second package, relating to the impact of alcohol on road safety, would follow soon afterwards.