Youth still missing the drink driving message

Hundreds turned out at Hiruharama marae to farewell one of the six young people.

On a chilly May morning a refrigerated truck pulls up at the Te Puia store with a sombre load of funeral wreaths among the frozen goods. It is just three days after six people died when a car driven by a drunk, stoned and tired young mother hit a tree about 10km to the north along State Highway 35 at Hiruharama, just south of Ruatoria.

The wreaths are to be sent on to marae at Whareponga, Waipiro Bay, Tuparoa and Ruatoria where the bodies lie in state before burial.

All the dead are from local families, and are said to be related to each other if you go back far enough, even to Maori Battalion commander Moana Ngarimu, the first Maori to be awarded the Victoria Cross

They were the driver Kui Reedy, 23, her 2-year-old son Hamuera Braybrook-Reedy, her cousins Tania Maraki-Reedy, 16, and Hamuera Reedy-Harrison, 22, and friends Toni Grace, 17, and Heni Tuhura-Walsh, 16.

Their families have steadfastly decided against talking publicly about the May 28 accident. But it emerged at an inquest in Ruatoria this week that the youths had been partying all night at Te Puia before they decided to drive north early on Saturday morning.

Puzzlingly, and despite repeated messages about road safety, Kui broke virtually every rule in the book. She took to the wheel with a blood alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit, had smoked the equivalent of a joint of cannabis, was tired after being up all night, and did not insist on the use of seatbelts.

The fact that no one in the group tried to stop her raises questions about the community's commitment to safety, and hints at the real behaviour behind the rhetoric.

In a visit to Ruatoria earlier this year the Weekend Herald was told sleeping arrangements were made so everyone could stay at Tania's home. Her family was hosting a Friday night birthday party for the 16-year-old, who would have turned 17 on the Sunday.

But Kui wanted to get back to Ruatoria with her son, and the others decided to squeeze in with her in the Honda Integra. Not one of them put on a seatbelt and there was no child restraint for little Hamuera.

It was early winter and the coldest part of the night, just before dawn. No doubt the car heater was on and the vehicle also warmed by the closely confined bodies as it took the relentlessly winding road from Te Puia to Ruatoria.

The motion from the weaving car, the occupants cocooned snugly together, and a night's partying behind them sets a soporific scene. Coroner Hugh Hughes suggests Kui may have fallen asleep at the wheel.

The car, travelling about 90km/h in the early-morning fog, failed to take a sweeping bend and ploughed into a tree without braking.

They were just five minutes short of their destination. It was a route familiar to Kui who would have driven it hundreds of times. This time, despite the impairment of drink and pot, she almost successfully negotiated the road which is dotted with signs warning drivers to slow to 45km/h or 55km/h.

About a minute before the crash, Kui had to slow down to get across the narrow, single-lane Kopuaroa No. 3 Bridge.

The Weekend Herald was told the tree Kui crashed into was the same tree Heni Tuhuru-Walsh's mother had once hit, leaving her badly injured. Some wanted it removed.

The death of Kui and her son marks three generations of her family who have died in road accidents on SH35 in a decade.

On the southern side of Te Puia, heading towards Tokomaru Bay, a roadside cross tied to a fence and adorned with flowers marks the spot where Kui's mother died in a motor accident.

On a short visit to that part of the East Coast you sense every second person has had a family member involved in some sort of car accident. And the increasing number of logging trucks that thunder along the quiet, narrow highways increases the sense of vulnerability.

There are initiatives to improve road safety.

Paki Keefe, 17, is a volunteer at the Ruatoria voluntary fire brigade and involved with the local radio station in promoting seatbelt use.

"There are the odd one or two who don't wear them but it's pretty good on the whole."

Keefe, the youngest volunteer, was called out on the morning of the crash and hopped off the engine to warn oncoming traffic of trouble ahead. That suited her as she doesn't like road crashes.

Royce Mathieson, the senior station officer, was among the first on the scene. His brother Graham, heading off for a hunting trip that morning, had spotted the wreck. Mathieson said there was nothing that could be done but protect the scene for police travelling from Gisborne.

Then the families began arriving. Te Puia-born Mathieson was distantly related to Hamuera Reedy-Harrison, who played rugby with the son of another volunteer.

Ruatoria, Mathieson says, is a friendly community where he knows half the locals by name and three quarters by face. He says this was the biggest accident on the coast for about 20 years.

He acknowledges that some locals still don't wear seat belts but says it is not as slack as in the past.

Sergeant Ed Keelan of the Ruatoria police is surprised those in the crash did not wear their seat belts. Keelan had stopped some of the occupants during routine checks and says they were strapped in. "I recall them wearing seat belts, and the baby was always strapped in a car seat."

He claims to be getting 90 per cent seat belt-compliance in his random checks, even on the backblocks.

"If child restraints are not being used I refer them to the runanga, where they can hire them for $20 a year. If they're caught after that I hit them with a $150 fine."

Ruatoria-born Keelan has been back in town as officer in charge of the East Coast for a decade. More than half of his work has a road-safety focus.

He has been working with the local runanga on a seatbelt campaign, as well as promoting messages about general motor vehicle safety and the dangers of drink-driving. Driver licence programmes are also run from the marae.

Keelan says cannabis and alcohol are problems in the community. He runs alcohol-free Blue Light discos from marae for the school-aged, which are proving popular.

Teenagers the Weekend Herald talked to assumed alcohol and speed were factors in the crash. Most adults, however, described Kui and her friends as responsible.

But a local businessman, who did not want to be named, condemned the young people of the area. "They are always hooning around, stoked up on Steinlager and pot."

The people of Ruatoria are touchy of such criticisms, to say the least. In the past, the town has attracted media attention for all the wrong reasons.

It had a spate of arsons in the 80s, Rastafarian murders, damage to farm properties and assaults on police. It has the taint of the Wild West on the untamed East Coast, and Cyclone Bola cut a vicious path through the district in 1988.

A local reckons the car crash is the worst single event since Bola.

A mourner takes time out from the sodden Hiruharama Marae to pop up to Cafe de Co on Ruatoria's main street, warming up with a hot coffee and a spell in the sun.

She resents the media presence. "They are holding Ruatoria up in a negative light again. This is our time to grieve, it's very insensitive for whanau, we haven't even buried them yet," she snaps.

But then adds: "The last thing we want to be doing is burying our young people. I hope they have not died in vain. We all think we're bullet-proof - I hope a few of us have woken up."

There are good news stories in Ruatoria. Radio Ngati Porou has plans for a new building, a successful modernised health clinic runs from the old Post Office building, and an ambitious museum is proposed near the Waiapu River.

The township, while somewhat shabby, feels like a friendly tranquil backwater where locals converge at the Hikurangi foodmarket to collect hugs and kisses along with their groceries.

The town and its surrounding population of about 2500 enjoy a rural lifestyle which lends itself to recreational pursuits like hunting, fishing, diving, surfing and horse riding. Rugby is huge with well-supported, fierce and emotional local competitions, including teams for women and girls.

The entrance to Ruatoria is modest, dominated by large 50km/h signs. Around the first bend is a roadside cross bearing a wooden plaque "in memory".

The townscape is dominated by a large, two-storey hotel, but there is no sign of its name, only advertisements for Steinlager and Lion Red.

A desultory row of flags, half missing, are slung between lamp posts. A smartly painted tourism centre is closed and relatively bare inside.

Along the main street are a dairy, electrical store, fish and chip shop, Westpac Bank and a couple of empty buildings which are for sale. Signs taped on the shop windows read "no gumboots, thanks".

The first day of the tangi most of the shops are closed, the settlement all but emptied out, just like Te Puia and Tokomaru Bay. One of the few locals not at the marae is Michael Ward, 56, who returned to live in Ruatoria five years ago.

He says it has changed a lot since he left aged 16.

"Before, the shops would go all the way to the end of the road. There even used to be a taxi stand where the public toilets are. Now you blink and miss it."

Ward says people left because there was no work. He is angry about the accident, convinced alcohol is involved and probably "electric weed", of which there was too much around.

He blames adults who set bad examples with their drink-driving. "The police can only do so much."

One woman rang the Weekend Herald to say there was a lot of guilt in the community because the adults knew the youths were only doing what they used to do. A mother at the Ruatoria hotel says she regularly gives her keys to her children so they can pick her up after a few beers.

Across the road at the Kai Kart are Moana, 19, and her brother Shane, 17, who are helping out behind the counter.

Moana, back for the holidays from a performing arts course in Rotorua, says young people usually allocate a sober driver. "We don't want to end up like our parents. We are taught not to drink and drive."

Shane says he felt "just shock" when he heard of the accident involving their friends. "I didn't believe it in the beginning."

Teenage cousins Shanarae and Ngahuia Reedy are outgoing, part-time workers at the foodmart who both live on farms, enjoy riding horses, and going to the beach. "Ruatoria's the best," says Ngahuia. But like most school leavers they intend to leave town.

Shanarae, who attends Ngata Memorial College, wants to be a singer and actress, while Ngahuia, who goes to the full Maori immersion school Te Waiu Kura Kaupapa, wants to be a veterinarian, doctor or teacher.

Laughing at each other's ambitious plans they say they expect to come back and live in Ruatoria.

The pair are cousins of the car crash victims, the Reedys. They clam up and look downwards when asked about the crash.

"It still feels sad," says Shanarae. "It makes us think about life" says Ngahuia.

Counselling was made available to school students and the immediate families. Ngata Memorial College acting principal Karen McClutchie says she will reinforce safety messages to "reflect on one's actions and that prevention is better than cure. Safety is a priority, no matter what the situation is."

McClutchie says apart from the infant Hamuera, all of the dead had at some time passed through the school gates. Toni and Heni were current students.

Career advisers say Toni was interested in training for early childhood education and Heni wanted to become a physical education instructor. Tania had finished school and was picking up seasonal work.

McClutchie said the roll of 198 students almost halved the first two days after the crash, and on the Wednesday she closed the school so they could attend the various services.

This tragedy was incomparable to others, she said. "The fact so many were lost in one event is where the huge impact is. At the marae three hearses arrived, two [bodies] apiece, It's beyond sad, it's a horrible experience the community has had to go through."

Pub singer Mavis Harrison, born and raised in Ruatoria, says Toni was her daughter's best mate. "She lived with us a while. They were like sisters, slept in the same bed."

Toni was "beautiful, amazing and loved a challenge", she says. Harrison says her daughter's is "doing okay" and has had counselling.

"The whole community is affected in some way but there's nothing else we can do now but move on."

Mavis remembers how coming back from a day trip to Auckland seven years ago she drove off a bank after falling asleep at the wheel. "I should have stayed the night but thought I'd just drive home."

Farmer Hazel Kino says all the young people know each other. Her 19-year-old daughter came home from Rotorua for the tangi and to help with the cooking. Her son lives behind the marae where the bodies were first taken.

"They are pretty close-knit. The hardest part is they're all babies." As for seatbelts: "Some wear them, some don't. I do with all my kids."

Amo Houkamau, chief executive Te Runanga O Ngati Porou, says its injury prevention team has road safety as the key focus and also runs education about drug and alcohol abuse through schools.

"We are interested in campaigning for family responsibility, to encourage families to ensure everyone in their vehicles is belted up, and organise dedicated drivers if out drinking."

Reverend Boyce Te Maro, one of Ruatoria's Anglican ministers, finds the community has dealt with the tragedy pretty well, although it was tough for the families who had to live with the consequences every day.

"There were shock waves because it touched just about everyone. I've been encouraging people to talk it out and move along."

Te Maro said it went without saying that it reinforced the need for people to take care around roads.

"Even I had forgotten to say to my grandchildren, 'I love you, on your way to school be careful'."