Police probe racing-death link

Police are still investigating whether a 17-year-old killed after crashing his car into a pole in Christchurch was racing.

His death was one of four reported on the roads at the weekend.

Police said the teenager died when the pole rammed through the middle of his seat about 4.30am on Saturday in suburban Phillipstown.

A female passenger suffered moderate injuries.

Police were last night still trying to contact members of the youth's family and would not publicly identify him.

Officers said it was clear the vehicle was speeding and they were still investigating whether it was racing another car, which stopped at the crash scene.

The occupants of the second car knew the dead youth.

Police said a witness contacted them yesterday and others were urged to do the same.

In the latest fatality a 26-year-old Timaru man died when the vehicle he was driving and a ute collided at an intersection north of Timaru about 4pm yesterday.

His 13-year-old brother, the only passenger in the vehicle, was last night in a serious condition in Timaru Hospital.

The ute's driver and 9-year-old passenger were also taken to Timaru Hospital with moderate injuries.

Timaru police Sergeant Mylen Hamilton said the Christchurch-based serious crash unit were investigating the accident. He believed both parties were travelling home from truck racing at Levels.

Meanwhile, the man killed in a head-on crash on State Highway 1 near Morven north of Oamaru on Saturday has been identified as Maurice Anthony Frawley, 69, of Surfers Paradise in Queensland.

The accident involved three north-bound vehicles and one going south.

Mr Frawley's seriously injured wife was flown to Dunedin Hospital, and another driver was taken to Timaru Hospital, also with serious injuries.

Police in Auckland named the motorcyclist who died on Friday after colliding with a truck on State Highway 2 near Mangatawhiri, east of Pukekohe, a notorious accident blackspot.

He was Jesse Peter Jackson, 16, from Kaiaua on the Firth of Thames.

- NZPA