Teen crash victim named

Police have named the teenager killed died in a high-speed crash which may have involved racing.

Nathan James McGiffert, 17, of Rangiora, died when the car he was driving smashed into a pole in the Christchurch suburb of Phillipstown about 4.30am on Saturday.

He was one of three people to die on the roads at the weekend.

Acting Detective Sergeant Jason Stewart of Christchurch police said police were keen to speak to witnesses to establish whether Mr McGiffert had been racing.

"We still haven't been able to progress that any further," Mr Stewart said.

He said the occupants of the car which stopped at the crash scene, who knew McGiffert, said they weren't racing. Police were still keen to speak to anyone who witnessed the crash.

"We are certain the car was going very quickly but there is no concrete evidence at this stage which says they were racing."

A female passenger in the car received moderate injuries.

The other two road fatalities at the weekend were also in the South Island.

Police have still to name a 26-year-old Timaru man who died when the vehicle he was driving was struck by a ute at an intersection north of Timaru about 4pm yesterday.

The man's 13-year-old brother, who was the only passenger in the vehicle, was last night in a serious condition in Timaru Hospital.

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

The other person who died at the weekend was Maurice Anthony Frawley, 69, of Surfers Paradise in Australia, who was killed in a head-on crash on Saturday on State Highway 1 near Morven, north of Oamaru.

The accident involved a Nissan car being driven by Mr Frawley, accompanied by his wife, a truck and an Isuzu Bighorn 4WD all travelling north and a south-bound Toyota Hilux utility being driven by a 19-year-old Oamaru woman.

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

In another crash which happened just before the official weekend period started, a motorcyclist 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.

Police said the truck appeared to have been on the correct side of the road, but the accident was still being investigated.

The weekend deaths brings the road toll for the year to 106, the same as this time last year.

- NZPA