Police cop trouble on both sides

By BERNARD ORSMAN

Somewhere down the highway the skull of a dead motorist lies on the road.

Nearby, a car is crushed under a fully laden, 40-tonne truck and trailer on State Highway 2 at Maramarua.

The route to Coromandel and the Bay of Plenty is closed to traffic for several hours.

At the scene, Sergeant Sandy Beckett, the officer in charge of the Auckland district crash analysis unit, has no idea what make the car was, or whether there are more bodies in the wreckage.

The body of the man is not recovered until the car is taken to a police warehouse ...

Weeks earlier, Sergeant Beckett had been at an accident scene in Greenlane where a 30-tonne crane truck - like the one used to lift the truck off the car in Maramarua - had run over a man.

The 30 police officers who attended the scene, and a local kaumatua who blessed the site, received compulsory trauma counselling from a police psychologist.

Sergeant Beckett, who has spent 18 years investigating motor accidents, yesterday urged the public to understand the tough job facing police every time they closed a road to investigate a fatal crash.

He said he sympathised with holidaymakers trapped in traffic jams for hours this summer, but the public needed to appreciate that police had a responsibility to the dead, their families, the criminal courts and coroners, who have been critical of some investigations.

"I cop it every which way. From members of the public through complaints of having roads closed. Then if I don't get the investigation right and go into court with an inadequate file I get criticised by the courts," he said.

"We have a huge obligations to the courts to get it right when we charge someone with an offence."

Each of the three Auckland police districts has a crash analysis unit of five staff, on call 24 hours a day.

Normally one member will attend a crash, and will assign other police at the scene to duties, such as picking up exhibits or looking after the body.

Sergeant Beckett said the first job of the investigating officer was to establish what type of crash had occurred and to look for the cause.

Tyre marks were measured and calculations made to determine the angle and speed of impact.

Sergeant Beckett said it took, on average, three to four hours to complete an investigation and reopen the road. In the case of the Maramarua accident, where heavy cranes had to be brought in, it took almost eight hours.

The public had asked why the police could not open one lane to keep traffic moving in the opposite direction, but Sergeant Beckett said it was dangerous for staff to have cars going through.

Public concern about road closures for fatal accidents has led Transit New Zealand to commission a report from an American road expert, who has recommended changing the philosophy from how long roads are closed to how quickly they can be reopened.

The police national road safety manager, Superintendent Steve Fitzgerald, said an investigation on the Southern Motorway using new technology had resulted in a far shorter closure lasting about 50 minutes - a record.

"We are still not as advanced as, say, Germany, which brings in heavy trucks on the motorway and just hoses off the road and clears it in 20 minutes," Mr Fitzgerald said.

"I'm not sure if New Zealanders would want their body parts washed up on the side of the road just so the traffic can get moving."

The Automobile Association Auckland regional manager, Stephen Selwood, said he understood the need for thorough investigations, but it was also important for motorists to get to where they were going.

He said the frustrating cause of many accidents south of Auckland was the long-overdue upgrade of the Mercer to Meremere stretch of State Highway 1 and State Highway 2 around Maramarua.

* A German living in New Zealand and a visiting friend were yesterday named as the second pair of people killed in a car crash near Meremere on Monday.

The German pair were the driver, Raimund Werner Josef Platzer, 52, and Christine Florich, 51, a tourist.

A passenger, Sina Gloge, 19, was yesterday in Auckland Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

Killed in the other car were brothers Ernest Rudolph, 19, and James Rudolph, 21, both passengers.

The driver and a toddler were still in serious condition in hospital yesterday.

A crash investigation team will analyse the site tomorrow. Their testing will close one lane.

On Tuesday, the holiday road toll reached 22 after a Scottish tourist crashed just south of Otaki, 20km southwest of Levin.

The crash closed State Highway 1 for about 30 minutes.NZPA

He said he sympathised with holidaymakers trapped in traffic jams for hours this summer but the public needed to appreciate that police had a responsibility to the deceased, their families, the criminal courts and coroners, who have been critical of some investigations.

"I cop it every which way. From members of the public through complaints of having roads closed. Then if I don't get the investigation right and go into court with an inadequate file I get criticised by the courts," he said.

"We have a huge obligations to the criminal courts to get it right when we charge someone with an offence."

Each of the three Auckland police districts has a crash analysis unit of five staff, on call 24 hours a day.

Normally one member will attend a crash, and will assign other police at the scene to duties, such as picking up exhibits or looking after the body.

Sergeant Beckett said the first job of the investigating officer was to establish what type of crash had occurred and to look for the cause.

Tyre marks were measured and calculations made to determine the angle and speed of impact.

Sergeant Beckett said it took on average three to four hours to complete an investigation and reopen the road. In the case of the Maramarua truck and car accident, where heavy cranes had to be brought in, it took almost eight hours.

Members of the public had asked why the police couldn't open one lane to keep traffic moving in the opposite direction, but Sergeant Beckett said it was dangerous for staff to have cars going through.

"I have had staff members hit by cars. People are looking at what is going on in the accident scene. And, just because an accident has happened in one lane doesn't mean all the physical evidence is limited to that lane."

Public concern about road closures for fatal accidents has led Transit New Zealand to commission a report from an American road expert who has recommended changing the philosophy from how long roads are closed to how quickly they can be reopened.

Police national road safety manager Superintendent Steve Fitzgerald said an investigation on the Southern Motorway using new technology had resulted in a much shorter closure lasting about 50 minutes - a record.

"We are still not as advanced as say Germany which just brings in heavy trucks on the motorway and just hoses off the road and clears it in 20 minutes.," Superintendent Fitzgerald said.

"I'm not sure if New Zealanders would want their body parts washed up on the side of the road just so the traffic can get moving."

Automobile Association Auckland regional manager Stephen Selwood said he understood the need for thorough investigations but it was also important for motorists to get to where they were going.

"It is question of balance, but what we have got is a situation of the balance having gone far too far.

"To have people sitting on the side of the road for six hours is unacceptable - no toilet facilities, no eating facilities, the sheer discomfort in the heat we have had," he said.

Mr Selwood said the frustrating cause of many accidents south of Auckland was the long overdue upgrade of the Mercer to Meremere stretch of State Highway 1 and State Highway 2 around Maramarua, which had been begging for completion for years.

* A German resident in New Zealand and a visiting German friend were today named as the second pair of people killed in a car crash near Auckland on Monday.

The accident, that killed four people and put three others in hospital with serious injuries, happened near Meremere, 64km south of Auckland, about 7.15pm.

The German pair were Raimund Werner Josef Platzer, 52, who had been living in Auckland, and Christine Florich, 51, who was a tourist.

Mr Platzer was the driver of the car and Ms Florich was in the back seat when they were hit side-on by another car on the straight three-lane stretch of motorway, Constable Neil Williams of Huntly said.

A third front seat passenger, Sina Gloge, 19, was in Auckland Hospital and today listed as in a serious but stable condition. She suffered from multiple leg fractures and facial injuries.

The two killed in the other car were Ernest Rudolph, 19, and James Rudolph, 21, both passengers. The car's driver and a toddler were still in serious condition in hospital today.

Mr Williams said initial investigations showed one car had crossed the centre line, but the crash investigation team would be carrying out analysis of the area on Friday.

Their testing would close one lane.

Yesterday, the holiday road toll reached 22 after a Scottish tourist crashed just south of Otaki, 20km southwest of Levin.

The 36-year-old lost control of his car because of a medical condition and the man's partner was unable to regain control of it. The car ran off the road and initially it appeared both suffered only minor injuries, but the man died later in hospital.

His name has not been released. The crash closed State Highway 1 for about 30 minutes yesterday.

- NZPA