Deakyn Hands with his Nana, Kathy Sexton, who died in a car crash earlier this year. Photo / Supplied
Deakyn Hands with his Nana, Kathy Sexton, who died in a car crash earlier this year. Photo / Supplied
A Greymouth teenager who survived a car crash that killed his grandmother has described how he helplessly tried to get another passenger out of the car before collapsing on the ground in pain.
And as Kiwis take to the roads for the long weekend, the head of road policing has urged motorists to be safe at the wheel and to expect a strong police presence after seven people were killed over this period last year.
Deakyn Hands, 14, was seriously injured when the car he was in, along with his grandmother, who was driving, and his friend who was in the back seat, collided with another vehicle as they were driving home after picking up takeaways for dinner on April 30.
His grandmother, Kathy Sexton, 56, was killed in the crash, on State Highway 7 near Greymouth on the West Coast.
Deakyn Hands with his Nana, Kathy Sexton, who died in a car crash earlier this year. Photo / Supplied
"I just didn't think it was real. [I was] trying to tell myself it was fake. But I knew I was awake."
With a rush of adrenaline, he got out of the vehicle and tried to open his friend's door, which was jammed, before the pain from a broken collar bone and dislocated wrist set in and he collapsed next to the car.
Lying on the ground, unable to move, Deakyn called his friend and his Nana's names - hoping he would hear something in return.
"Neither of them [were] responding," he said. "Then someone on the road said they had seen movement in the car. I knew it was ... my friend."
Paramedics checked Sexton's pulse, Deakyn recalled, as her arm hung out the window. He overheard them say they couldn't find a heartbeat.
"They said that to each other. I couldn't really process it at the time. I was still really dazed, my head was like really foggy."
Deakyn Hands, pictured in hospital with his sister. Photo / Supplied
Deakyn's father, Damian Hands, said he was proud of his son and "taken aback" by how well he had handled such a devastating event.
"I know there's obviously something underlying, and there always will be, but he's handled it amazingly well."
Director of road policing, superintendent Steve Greally, said motorists should expect to see police "anywhere, anytime" on the highways over the long weekend as police boost their visibility in an effort to deter unsafe driver behaviour.
"At times during the weekend you might see a police vehicle every 15 or 20 minutes on some highways, " he said.
"We hope this is a real incentive for drivers to focus on getting to their destination safely by driving to the conditions and maintaining a safe speed at all times."
Most days, Deakyn is okay. He has physically healed and so long as his friends are distracting him on the bus when they pass the crash site, he doesn't tend to think about it too much.
Deakyn Hands with his Nana, Kathy Sexton, who died in a car crash earlier this year. Photo / Supplied
But, every now and then, the weight of what happened almost six months ago sinks in again, and he'll have what he calls a "bad moment".
"I'll have a panic attack or something, or I'll have a breakdown ... but normally I'm doing well."
Deakyn and his nana were really close. He remembers fondly the many times she took him to the movies when he was younger or the board games they played together.
One of Deakyn's favourite memories was when she learned she was about to be a grandmother for the fifth time: she was over the moon.
"It was around Christmas time last year. They had given her a present for a baby, like baby clothes, and she said it wouldn't fit my little brother ... and then she realised that they were going to have another kid.
"We were really close. I went there a lot, I grew up there, it was kind of like a second home."
