Hit-and-run jogger killed

The scene at the Whangarata rail bridge where the young jogger died. Photo / Geoff Dale

A distraught mother found her son lying dead in a ditch after becoming worried he had not returned from an evening run.

The 24-year-old Tuakau man was killed after the driver of a swerving car crushed him against a crash barrier, then fled the accident scene.

It was about 8.30pm on Friday when the man's worried mother drove the route he jogged, Whangarata Road in Franklin, only to find fire, police and ambulance officers around her son's body.

By then, the driver, who is also from Tuakau, had returned to the scene with her husband.

She was arrested and gave a breath test for alcohol, allegedly above the legal limit.

The man was meant to be flying to Australia yesterday with friends - instead they stayed for their friend's funeral, police said.

Franklin traffic sergeant John Cheeseman said the runner had just crossed the Whangarata rail bridge near the Ridge Rd intersection when he was hit by the car, pushed against the barrier and then flung into a two-metre-high ditch. He died at the scene.

Cheeseman said it was not clear whether the driver lost control of her Holden Commodore and then hit the pedestrian or whether she swerved when she tried to avoid hitting him.

Skid marks weaved across the stretch of road that has a recommended speed limit of 65km per hour.

Yesterday, flowers adorned the mangled crash barrier that clearly showed the impact.

Whangarata Rd resident Garry Sharp arrived shortly after emergency services arrived.

There was a small footpath on the other side of the road. "He probably should have crossed, but that's hindsight," Sharp said.

Resident Charlotte Hannah said the stretch of road was notorious for crashes.

"It is a dangerous road - I would not want to walk along there, especially at night," she says.

Another resident claimed this accident marked the third crash on the same piece of road in the past month.