Life devastated by act of 'recklessness'

A victim of drink driving has told of the devastating effect of the loss of his wife.

Bert van Heuckelum works all the time because "when I get home it's silence. There's no one here. I'm alone."

It is in those moments when Mr van Heuckelum "goes to pieces".

His 57-year-old wife, Netty, was on her way to work at Tauranga Hospital on a Sunday morning in September last year when she was hit and killed by a drunk driver.

Mr van Heuckelum said proposed changes to the blood-alcohol limit for drivers had to be introduced - and authorities should go further.

"At 80mg people cannot think rationally. More people would get caught if there were changes, but different consequences would also have a big impact. We've got to put the fear of God into people."

The couple, immigrants from Holland, lived in Katikati.

Mrs van Heuckelum was hit by a 29-year-old driver who was twice the legal limit.

"People say it was an accident," Mr van Heuckelum said. "They say she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She wasn't. She was in the right - he was in the wrong place doing the wrong thing."

"I refuse to call it an accident. it was reckless."

Mr van Heuckelum said that whatever the limit, the major threat would remain heavy, recidivist drinkers who ignored any legal constraint. But sending a message was important - combined with strong punishments.

Mr van Heuckelum said he could not hate the man responsible for his wife's death, "but neither can I forgive him".

Changes were needed to drink driving laws so other people did not have to go through what he went through.

" Now, I spend all my time working so I don't have to stop and think. That's when I go to pieces."