Drive only as fast as your angel can fly

A grieving mother remembers her daughter. JO-MARIE BROWN reports.

Cathy Anderson always gets her Christmas tree on December 10 to coincide with the birthday of her daughter, Sarah.

But this year Sarah didn't have a birthday. She was killed in March when the car she was in did a u-turn in front of a truck near Taupo.

Instead, beside the crash site her mother has planted two Christmas trees adorned with brightly coloured card messages as a reminder to passing motorists to drive carefully.

"Take a lesson from this," says one hand-decorated card.

Another says: "Don't drive faster than your angel can fly."

Hundreds of Rotorua and Taupo teenagers have written on the home-made cards to help create a memorial that Mrs Anderson says also serves as a wake-up call for people to drive sensibly.

"That's why we got the kids to fill them out. Hopefully, they'll take heed of their own messages."

Fifteen-year-old Sarah Anderson died while on her way to a barbecue at a popular reserve. The driver, Graeme Bignell, 16, and fellow passenger Natasha Jakschik, 15, were also killed when their car pulled into the path of a truck which they appear not to have seen.

"It was just a mistake but I want other kids to learn from it," says Sarah's grieving mother.

Mrs Anderson, who has five other children, has visited schools in Auckland and Rotorua over the past few months to graphically describe what it was like to lose Sarah. It is a speech she intends to repeat to as many schools as possible next year in an attempt to lower New Zealand's road toll.

This week, Mrs Anderson and Sarah's best friend, Kirsty Slack, added more cards to the eye-catching Christmas trees, including ones from people who were mourning other car-crash victims.

"They're so sad. I was going through the cards the other day and just sitting there crying," Mrs Anderson said.

The trees will be taken down next month but the Anderson family intend to put them up at the Broadlands Rd crash site each year to mark Sarah's birthday. "It's been a family tradition ever since she was born," Mrs Anderson said. "Hopefully, it will also remind people to be careful."

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