St Peter’s College student Robbie Taylor died in January after the car he was travelling in crashed into a tree on Ian McKinnon Drive, Eden Terrace. His friends have paid tribute to his memory in this short film.
Friends of an Auckland teenager who died in a central city crash have paid tribute to his memory in a short film.
In January, St Peter's College student Robbie Taylor, died after the car he was travelling in crashed into a tree on Ian McKinnon Drive, in Eden Terrace.
He was due to start his final year at school a few weeks later.
Three of his closest friends, James Sutherland-Cameron, Oliver van Lent and Ned Drumm, have spent a month putting together the video, titled Robbie - which they released this week.
Oliver van Lent, along with two other friends, has made a film to honour their friend Robbie Taylor who died in a car crash. Photo / YouTube
Scenes of the January crash set the scene, followed by video snippets and photos of the teen boys and interviews about their grief.
Sutherland-Cameron, an aspiring film-maker, said the film tackles the issue of road safety through the lens of their experience.
"There has been a lot of death on the road lately," he said. "Boys my age are still zooming down the road. You could be sitting in a car and someone zooms past you and it makes you think.
This week, Moana Matthews, 17, died after she fled from police and crashed her car into a stream bank in Rotorua.
She's one of at least four young people to die this year in a high-speed crash involving a police pursuit.
But Sutherland-Cameron said road safety was a hard message to get across.
"They don't understand the implications of what they are doing," he said. "Something has to happen to you so you can understand it yourself."
It was his hope that the film would help others begin to understand without them having to experience the grief first-hand.
"You aren't just in charge of your own life but the others around you," he said. "You are in charge of the car in front of you and the pedestrian in front of you, you know?
There were two other people in the car; a 20-year-old driver and a 19-year-old passenger.
"I guess I just feel what I feel for them, they loved Robbie as much as we did," Sutherland-Cameron said.
The Herald understands an investigation into the crash has been completed and a prosecution is underway.
