'Killing fields' toll in North baffles police

WHANGAREI - It looks like everything a driver could want in a road - mostly long, straight, flat stretches with good visibility - but motorists keep getting killed on State Highway 1 between Whangarei and the foot of the Brynderwyn Hills.

In the past five years 37 people have died on the 50km stretch.

Whangarei police had a quiet start there this year - just three people killed to the end of February. Now the "peace" has been shattered.

"You could describe it as the killing fields at the moment," said Northland police traffic Inspector Rex Knight. "We've lost 12 people on that stretch in under three weeks."

Four people died in one horrendous smash on March 21.

On Tuesday night, residents of Ruakaka, 29km southeast of Whangarei, again heard the familiar sound of sirens on the main road, where accidents are common.

At 5.50 pm, a head-on smash killed David Chun Keung Chan, aged 50, of Waipapa in the Bay of Islands, and Clarke Michael Hemara, 34, of Whangarei. Both had to be cut free.

Motorists dragged Mr Hemara's wife, Tanya, from her burning car.

At 8.40 am yesterday the emergency services were back at another fatal accident, only 2km north of where they had been on Tuesday night.

Mary Carol Holmes, 41, of Waipu, 41km southeast of Whangarei, was killed when her car and an oncoming vehicle collided.

The 9km stretch of road between Marsden Pt and Ruakaka has claimed the most lives.

"At the moment it would be one of the worst blackspots in the country," Mr Knight said.

In the past, the biggest danger was drivers pulling out from either of two turn-offs to Ruakaka on to State Highway 1.

Turning lanes have largely cured that problem.

Now, the biggest threat seemed to be the drivers, Mr Knight said.

"These roads where these crashes are occurring, they're straight ... I think it's a lot of misjudgment.

"I think it's a combination of speed and bad driving."

State Highway 1 is the main link between Auckland and Whangarei. It has signs warning drivers to slow down, not to drink and drive, and to watch following distances.

A frustrated Mr Knight is now racking his brains for other measures to halt the toll.

"You're going to see more visible enforcement from us on that stretch of road," he said.

Northland police had to deal with yet another fatal accident yesterday.

One person died in a crash on State Highway 12 at Ruawai, 30km southeast of Dargaville, when a vehicle caught fire after slipping off the road.

Police were having difficulty identifying the victim.

In Upper Hutt on Tuesday, Darrin Francis O'Keefe, 35, of Upper Hutt, was killed in a two-car crash. A 55-year-old woman was in a critical condition in Wellington Hospital yesterday.

- NZPA