KEY POINTS:
A man who died in a Bay of Plenty car crash yesterday was speeding, possibly drunk, on a learner's licence and not wearing a seatbelt - and last night a youth driving as fast as 150km on a suburban road had a lucky escape.
A 26-year-old Kawerau man was killed when his car failed to negotiate a moderate corner at Eastbank Rd in Edgecumbe at about 11am. He was driving at excessive speed.
He died instantly and his 20-year-old female passenger suffered moderate injuries. Several bottles of beer were found in the car.
As he was carrying a passenger he was breaking the rules of his licence.
Senior Sergeant Bruce Jenkins of the Whakatane police said the man was a huge risk to others, and may have survived if he had been wearing his seatbelt.
"This was just a fatality waiting to happen." Last night four people were in Middlemore Hospital for observation after a crash just before 6pm on East Tamaki's Chapel Rd.
Sergeant Kylie Newton said a 20-year-old youth was driving between 120-150km/h when he tried to overtake another vehicle, lost control and hurtled into oncoming traffic.
He hit two cars - crushing the front of one, driven by a woman in her 30s, and scraping the side of a parked, empty vehicle.
The speeding car ran across two front lawns where children had just been playing.
