Flesh and bones of road toll story

By SCOTT MacLEOD transport reporter

Mark Finch's bones are nearly healed but his muscles have shrivelled to almost nothing.

That is what happens when you spend six days in a coma and a further eight weeks lying in bed.

But on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Finch reached a milestone - he stood up for the first time since January 1, when his name was nearly the second to be entered in this year's road toll.

The death tally started when 2001 was less than three hours old. Nineteen-year-old Dion Russell Wells, of Dunedin, was struck by a car as he walked through the outskirts of Wanaka.

A few hours after Mr Wells' death, Mr Finch saved two teenage girls while lifesaving at Paekakariki in southern Manawatu. At 7.30 pm, he dropped off a mate in Waikanae and was heading out of town when his 1994 car and another vehicle collided head-on.

Pinehaven couple Len and Jenny Cogger were hurt, but not as badly as Mr Finch. The 18-year-old woke up six days later with broken bones in his pelvis, foot, ribs, elbow, arm, jaw and both legs.

He spent nine days in intensive care, the rest of January in hospital and most of last month in a bed at his parents' home. The injuries forced him to give up his plan to study medicine.

Mr Finch falls into a category the Land Transport Safety Authority calls "reported serious injury." The authority released figures this week showing that the average cost of such injuries - including medical care, legal bills, property damage and lost income tax - equals $469,000 a person.

Had Mr Finch died, his loss to the country would have been been put at $2,485,000. Had he been an "average reported minor injury," the cost would have been $42,000.

By late yesterday, the road toll had reached 80 - 18 worse than at the same time last year.

LTSA director David Wright said much of the blowout was caused by the usual factors - speed, alcohol, driver fatigue and failure to wear seatbelts.

But this year's toll could have been one worse. Mr Finch came oh-so-close.

Then, that milestone. A physiotherapist helped him stand up for 30 seconds.

Herald Online feature: Cutting the road toll

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