The Wanganui truck driver who admitted killing Mia Pusch through careless driving has had his licence suspended for just a year and has been ordered to pay a measly $5,000 in reparation to her family (source)

Mia Pusch, 19, was a German tourist who had been backpacking through New Zealand on her bike “pinkie”. She died on 5  January after being hit by a truck travelling in the same direction whilst riding along State Highway 3 near Bulls.

She was one of many cyclists to have been killed or injured on New Zealand’s roads every year. Shortly before her death she’d written in her blog about the dangers of cycling in the country and the perils presented by passing truck drivers. Some would sneak up at high speed to well within her safety zone (0.5 -1.0 metres)  and then overtake with horns blaring, leaving her shaking with adrenaline:

“When one is a cyclist on New Zealand roads, one is not only torn from one’s daydreams by diving-bombing magpies but is more often threatened by a more nasty species that really requires more attention: truck drivers,” Ms Pusch wrote.
“They swerve past the cyclists who are struggling under their own steam at breakneck speed, mainly within only a half-metre to a metre gap, all the while aggressively honking their horn.”

The sentence, such as it is, will do little to deter other truck drivers, or road users, from cavalier attitudes towards cyclists in New Zealand.Our condolences again go out to Gesa  Marcus and other family members and friends at this difficult time.

Mia’s death sparked calls for mandatory minimum passing distances for vehicles overtaking cyclists – from between 1 to 1.5 metres, but all of them were ignored.

Other cyclists to have to have been killed or injured in NZ recently include the following people, none of the drivers responsible received particularly punitive sentences:

German tourist Stephan Stoermer had been on a cycling world tour since 2006, he had been safely winding his way through 26 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia since early 2006 before arriving in New Zealand. He died a week before his tour was scheduled to end when he was hit by a logging truck near Te Puke in the Bay of Plenty on March 12, 2009.

Another German cyclist died on 6 August 2009 in a hit an run at Leeston, 45 km south west of Christchurch. 34 year old Jens Richardon had been living in NZ for a few years. He must have been quite familiar with the peculiarities of the roads and the local driving habits. His body was eventually discovered by a passing motorist at 7.30pm and police located the offender’s car, a dark blue BMW 3251, 20km away.

The motorist responsible for Jens’ death  was seen slumped over a bar shortly before the crash. Phillip Kirkwood Hamilton, 40, of Southbridge, pleaded guilty on 6 November 2009 to driving under the influence of alcohol causing death and failing to stop for an injury accident. He had drunk around 10 pints of beer at a bar in Rolleston from around 2.30pm that day. He told police he knew he had hit a cyclist but panicked because he had been drinking. 

The judge took pity on him a gave him a sentence of home detention.

But soft sentences are the norm in crashes involving cyclists in New Zealand.

Drunk driver, 71 year old Alison Downer, bagged a lenient two year sentence for her 4th conviction after she hit and killed Frank van Kampen as he was cycling along State Highway 1 in Te Horo on September 18 2009.  Mr van Kampen’s partner wept through the hearing at Palmerston North District Court and said that she was disgusted by the sentence. Can you believe that Downer’s defence lawyer was alleged to have told the judge that “this was not the worst type of offending because there was only one victim.”

And in the ‘Tamaki Drive Carnage’ a female student lost her licence for 6 months and was ordered to pay $1,000 to each of her victims after she ploughed into a pack of cyclists travelling along Tamaki Drive, Auckland. The cyclists, one of whom suffered long term brain injuries and may never be able to work again, said that the sentence was far too lenient.

North Shore doctor Graham Robinson was struck and killed whilst cycling outside of Helensville. The driver of a white Toyota Hillux sped off after hitting him and police have yet to track him down, despite having an excellent description of the vehicle.

Reporter Heather McCracken complied a report with details of cycling fatalities and high number of injuries that she was aware of on NZ’s roads during 2009:

Fatal cost of riding your bike
Seven cyclists have been killed so far this year on New Zealand roads.
Last year 10 riders were killed and almost 900 injured, with most crashes occurring at intersections on urban roads.
Last weekend cyclist Frank van Kampen, 46, was killed after being struck by a car near Otaki.
A 34-year-old cyclist was killed last month in a hit-and-run accident near Leeston, Christchurch.
Another Christchurch crash took the life of a 19-year-old cyclist in July.
Two cyclists have been killed in the Bay of Plenty, one in a May accident at a Mt Maunganui roundabout, and another following a crash involving a logging truck near Te Puke in March.
Two Dunedin cyclists have also lost their lives – one after colliding with a car in the city in March, and another in a crash outside of Mosgiel in June.”

Pretty awful figures for such a small country. NZ does have the worlds highest car ownership – 720 per 1000 people, even more than the United States’ 675 per 1000 people (in 2005) and when that’s combined with intolerance towards other road users the weaker and more vulnerable need to be better protected than they are at present.

We suggest a national network of safe cycling routes, in which bike riders are protected from collision hazards with motor vehicles and more publicity given to visitors about which roads are dangerous for cyclists, so that they may plan out their holidays around those routes before they leave home.
Something has to be done to re-educate NZ drivers too, perhaps a national advertising campaign to make them more aware of the difficulties cyclists face and that the roads are for all to share, a revision of the driving test and tougher penalties for dangerous driving causing death or injury. The introduction of mandatory safe passing distances and stiffer penalties are needed desperately, because at the moment cyclists are seen as fair game.

For other information about NZ poor road death and injury statistics see “Road death toll increases” and “NZ’s roads described as killing fields”

See also our post: Facebook group set up in memory of Mia Pusch and other posts tagged Mia Pusch.

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Hoon Car Kills Kid In Christchurch

Many of our regular readers already know that New Zealand has world’s second highest road death and injury rates, twice that of countries like the UK. Much of the tragic loss of life and injuries can be attributed to two major factors – poor roads and bad driving, especially by ‘hoons’ or ‘boy racers’ and people under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

In the 12 months to 21 May 2010 126 people aged 24 and under have been killed on NZ roads.
For many years kids as young as 15 have been allowed to drive whatever they can get their hands on in NZ, including high performance cars and there is no legal requirement for them to hold so as much as third party insurance, often with tragic consequences.

It may come as a shock to outsiders when they realise that this sort of thing happens in a country that is allegedly ‘such a great place to raise kids.’

A four-year-old boy, who was walking with his six-year-old brother and mother on Linwood Ave, Christchurch (the city is the hoon capital of NZ) died after he was hit by a car that lost control in wet conditions, shortly after 5pm last night. The driver had been seen drifting before the collision:

“The car slid from side to side on the road before climbing the footpath and hitting the children. One News described the driver as a boy racer doing drifts.
The six-year-old boy is in serious but stable condition at Christchurch Hospital.
Police were talking to the 18-year-old male driver.”

Linwood Avenue relative to other crash locations

View Larger Map

Fatal and serious crashes Christchurch City 2008

source

A report in the Herald added

“Linwood Ave is a long stretch of road with multiple lanes, and residents said it was often used as a racetrack by boy racers. The road was wet yesterday after rain during the day.”

View Larger Map

Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family of the deceased child, and to his brother who was injured in the collision.

This tragic loss of a child’s life and the injuries of another,  may prove to be the last straw for the residents of Christchurch, who have endured a plague of hoons in and around the city for many years, police seem powerless to control the situation and there are bound to be calls to deal with the problem before any more innocent lives are lost.

It has understandably caused an outrage in the community, reflected in comments left in multiple threads on the Trademe boards, this is part of one of them:

Boy Racers your time is up
-”After today why would we want any car that’s a boy racer car on our roads.”

-”a small child was killed tonite by an out of control young male driver in chch”

-”Whatever, Judges are complete PUSSYS when it comes to sensible sentencing. Maybe if one our them had their kids killed by a boyracer we may see some common sense sentencing.”

-”Just heard the news re 1 child killed and another seriously injured when a boy racer car went out of control in Christchurch”

-”I saw the news headline but not the rest. Oh the poor family – crush him AND the car.”

-”Enough is enough!!!!!!!”

-”Agree time is up. They have had their warning and the softly softly approach. . Bring out the crusher and take the toys away. The ones that are playing by the rules you should be on the case of those indiots out there that have no respect for anyone.”

-”This was one driver, driving a boy racer style car (no eveidence he *is* a boy racer) and he must stand up and take responsiblity for his actions whether he was out of control on purpose or he just made a mistake – as everyone does. And to be fair, “ma and pa average” have more accidents every day (but that is not newsworthy) than Boy Racers ever have in month (as per police comment)”

-”you dont often see ma and pa average kill girls while speeding down fendalton road, or kill pedestrians while racing down Fitsgerald ave or kill innocent drivers while drag racing on ferry road. Do I need to continue? Accidents happen but deaths caused through sheer stupidity behind the wheel of a car should carry a murder charge. Fact is all the above examples were drivers between 18 and 25 in boy racer cars. Downplay it as much as you like but here in ChCh they are a problem and it is time they got sorted out once and for all.”

-”You don’t see it because the media get more of a response when a “boy racer” is involved. So they make more effort to give it a higher public profile. I lived in chch for a long time. Don’t tell me about the problem you have. It’s not half as bad as you would like to believe. I would have called myself more of a boy racer in my 2 door ford laser than half the kids rolling around that town at night. Majority of those kids just do laps because they have nothing better to do. Yes, there are some that are reckless but you will find them in every city. Christchurch happens to have a good circuit for it too, long, wide open streets, unlike somewhere such as wellington. And there are more houses living next to those roads, which means more people notice the sound of boy racers.
If wellington had the same type of streets, you would notice the boy racers more often and no doubt more accidents.”

-”I agree that it’s not just boy racers and If you’re a boy racer and a responsible one then I don’t have any issue with you. But with young people, fast powerful cars, peer pressure, maybe liquor and bravado combinne to give a rather leathal mixture.”

-”Look. Once someone has killed in a car, they KNOW not to be reckless again. The sentencing is nothing but more punishment. They will be tormented by what they have done. And don’t give me that ” Well they should be tormented and punished more blah blah blah” bullshit. The trick is to get through to them before they do it. It’s not the car that’s the problem, it’s the mindset.”

-”from the news report: A young eye-witness told The Press he saw a car “screeching” around a corner before hitting the group. Car tyres only screech when they’ve lost traction mainly due to excessive speed. My friend’s 20 year old son had an accident on his motorbike last week, doing 50km around a greasy tight bend, lost control, skidded along the road for 5 metres with the bike on top of one leg. Thankfully he hit no-one and nothing. He said it was his fault for driving too fast for the wet conditions and will take that corner at 30km from now on. Now THAT is the right (grown up) attitude.”

-”Last week there was a auction that got banned promoting Boy racers. Most of the ppls that came onto the thread supported Br’s. I really hope you are reading this thread tonight. It was a matter on time before things like this happen. That poor kid didnt deserve to die, When are the Rb’s going to learn. How many more kids have to die?”

-”Over and over again these young clowns are bringing misery and heartbreak to others and their own families because of this entrenched “must go fast” culture they have all subscribed to. This reckless disregard for the saftey of others coupled with that dip shit attitude of being ten foot tall and bullet proof. Adding to that is the fact that these young idiots have easy access to high performance vehicles which do require a reasonable amount of skill and experience to operate.”

-”in another thread someone says they have seen that car doing skids in the neighbourhood. You only have to look at the damage in the photos to see this guy was out of control and kids on the TV news said he came sliding down the road!I hope you will visit your mate when he is in prison – he will need your support. An 18 year old + high powered turbo rear wheel drive + wet road = recipe for disaster.” more…

In Feb 2009 in an attempt to rid the city of this problem, police took 67 boy racers off the streets of the city, in 2007 police prosecuted 500 people after a sting targeting boy racers in the area. However, these efforts seem to be futile if the comments left on the Trademe threads are anything to go by. more

Isn’t it time that long, straight stretches of road like this in Christchurch were fitted with speed reduction measures, isn’t it time that compulsory age weighted insurance was made mandatory in NZ.
Who wants to live in a city, or a country,  that’s little more than a race track?

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Migrant Stories - "Why I think New Zealand is backward" Part II

Yesterday as part our Migrant Stories series we entered an account from a British person, who'd lived in New Zealand and returned to the UK, entitled "Why I think New Zealand is backward".

Her post was made on an emigration forum frequented mainly by British people and some New Zealanders. It drew a massive response, some of it hostile, overly defensive and insecure. Since then she has published a fuller explanation of why she thinks New Zealand is backward by answering questions (in italics) that were put to her by another person. This is her response, this is why so many migrants and their families do not settle in New Zealand. Read, learn and understand.

"In response I will try to explain and i apoligise to all those people who felt offended by my unwisely choice of words.

No choice in the supermarkets, if u want to home bake u r ok, want a convenience meal forget it! I personally find the 'convenience meal' mentality in the UK sad. Get a cook book! It is healthier to cook your own food for starters.

Hi most of our meals are cooked from scratch, but when u have got lots of things to attend to and the kids need to be here there and everywhere a convenience meal is just that a convenience. I made a birthday cake and went to buy some writing pens, to write happy birthday on the top, could i get any NO the woman in the supermarket looked at me as though I was strange and gladly handed me a piping bag!!!! I thought they were extinct

Education is appaling, my opinion of having 4 kids in the UK system then NZ Some posters will disagree with that according to previous posts I've read. I can't comment.

Being a Lecturer with kids in very good schools in the UK, I found the education system appalling. NCEA is supposed to be on par with our GCSE's and A Levels, in my opinion there is no comparison. When head teachers will not call in parents of disobedient children because their parents are a gang members and will not upset them, it beggered belief!!

No expectations for kids to leave school and go to University. Who's responsibility is it? the schools? government? why not the parents?
It is the parents and the schools responsibility to inspire kids to attain the best they can out of life.


The people are NOT intelligent and to get an intelligent conversation is near on impossible. Sounds like a massively unfair generalisation to me.
This was a bad choice of words, very sorry people. I longed for an academic conversation, a debate, to speak to a person who could have a stimulating conversation was very limiting, it could have been the area we were in.

Health and Safety is a joke. In what way? Roads, driving the mountain road every day to take kids to schools, no barrieres at all. Allowing kids to drive at 15. The fact that when there are health and safety rules in place no one takes any notice of them. Tokoro Mill has safety bars to stop people falling in once the drains are opened but these have to be removed because the suction truck hose does not fit through it, so they have to lift it and any person could fall into the pit and would die within minutes. Also the collection of chemicals, they take anything where are the ADR certificates.

Music is mostly american rap and NZ follow american culture. As do half the planet!
Spending lots of time with teenagers, the american music and influence I felt was more prominent in NZ at least in the Uk they promote many new British bands. Again something I suppose I didn't expect

Wages are do not match expectations, therefore lifestyle you have previously had is no where in sight. You should have known this before moving to NZ. No-one moves to NZ to get rich. There are millions of posts about that.
I knew my wages would be half what I was on in the UK, but actually having the experience of having to live on them was very difficult, when u live by certain standards.


The Kiwi's do not want progress especially in all the farms I visited. What do you mean? do they use oxen to plough the fields?
hahaha you make me laugh. I was teaching farmers and their labourers how to use a new hand held computer and they are quite happy to tell you that they do not want computers and that they want new zealand to stay as it was. I found this difficult to comprehend especially as in the Uk we embrace new technologies. Also while teaching Korean and Japanese students they were shocked how behind with technology NZ was. They came with their studies downloaded to MP3's.

NZ is not safer than the UK in our experience. I'm sure many on BE NZ will disagree with that.
I can understand why lots of people may not agree with this, but in our experience this was the case. My 15 year old daughter was sexually assaulted in NZ and the culprit got sent to prison for 2 years. As I said in the Uk we take our kids to and from schools by car, so we felt like lots of others that NZ was safer so let hr walk! The culprits attitude in court stated, "If she was my daughter I would not let her out of my sight"

Drugs are a big acceptable part of their culture. Drugs are everywhere! Most teens will dapple in or come across drugs. You should educate them to be responsible
Of course every responsible parent in any country teaches their kids about drugs and their dangers, but we were not ready for the ACCEPTABLE part, that it is Ok to smoke dope in front of kids and teach them it is OK. I am sorry it in NOT OK to me or my family, hence the move away. it is endemic in NZ just another part of their culture.

The biggest suicide rate in teenagers is in NZ as the pressure on kids to go out and work to bring in money for the family, is a bigger pressure than getting a good education in the UK. It is all relative.
Agreed, different cultures expect different things from their children. But don't forget also that it is still Ok to beat your kids to a pulp in NZ and it happens as I have done lots of research and it is not a frowned upon, again it is accepted. These are things that are not anticipated when moving to a new culture until you experience them

College courses are few and far between. Such as? While doing some research a while back I came across Unis in Auckland and Christchurch, and I didn't have to look very hard.
Choices of what you can study is still very limiting. Teaching in a UK college with 350,000 students, to a few hundred students at the local college in NZ, again this is due to population so if your kids choose a course , it is quite likely that it is going to be a long way from home in NZ to enable them to persue a career. Universities have a better choice, but a UK degree is better recognised that many other countries degrees.

Being so far away from other countries, it has been left behind. I understand that this could be an issue for some, but for me this is what is appealing about NZ

Again perspective. I have never said NZ was bad, it is a matter of perspective. Again the reality did not hit me until I lived in NZ and could not jump on a plane and visit another country so easily. It is appealing if u want seclusion and a quiet peaceful life, I agree.


The fact that there is no structure to society is very hard to work with, especially as the UK is so structured. Please explain what you mean by this.
Stucture, rules and regulation are not adhered to. Drink Driving- I was at a petrol station and a man in the next car drove up, drunk so much he couldn't stand and had a child in the car about 2years old. The police turn a blind eye to drink driving, driving without seat belts. They do you for speeding though as it gains them money, like other countries. it is hard to explain that there is no infastructure maybe someone on her can explain better. Where you are brought up with rules and regulations, trying to live the the sloppiness of it all is difficult.


Lots of Adults in NZ believe in being in gangs, which their kids follow. This sounds like utter bollocks to me. Lots of adults all over NZ want to be in gangs? nonsense
So there are NO MONGREL MOB AND BLACK POWER GANGS????? Get out of here LOL. These Gangs are known by the police, but even the police will not deal with them. They pick up the young wannabe members cos it is easier! So there was No shooting in broad daylight of a Mongrel Mob member in Rotorua in 2006 and the shooting of a Black Powers daughter (2 year old) in 2007? I just dreampt this did I. read the papers. These gangs do rule parts of Rotorua. Most doctors and Counsellors were also shocked by the amount of gang culture in Rotoura.

I have tried to explain from my point of view, how I felt in New Zealand. I know there will always be people who are opposed to what I say. But please remember, if i do not answer straight away I am many miles from you now. New Zealand was a lovely place to visit but I did not feel I could stay."

For many migrants one of their prime motivators for moving to New Zealand is to provide a better life for their children. Sadly, for some people, New Zealand fails to deliver.

In the New Zealand News this day:
*The funeral of taxi driver Hiren Mohini who was stabbed in a frenzied assault on Sunday morning link
*British girl and her mum commended for fighting off sex attacker in North Shore link
*Police appeal for help in catching gunman in yesterday's bank robbery in Napier link 
*Desert Road murderer gets 16 years jail term link
*3 Cheetahs escape from Christchurch park link
*3 shots fired at bus carrying children in Christchurch link
*BMX star sentenced for sex attacks on two 14 year olds in Rangiora schoolyard link
*Hastings police pursuit ends in crash link
*Black Power gang member, 17, raped 10 year old link
*Train driver ran stop light link 
*Home detention for woman who supplied P to ex-husband link
*Drunk-driver's sentence disgusts widow link
*Negotiators talk man down from crane in Auckland link 
*Shoplifter wielded knife, threatens public in Christchurch mall link
*Central city pick-ups lead to sex attacks in Hamilton link
*North Shore primary school teacher on sex charges link
*Man avoids jail for vicious assault link
*School head teachers opposite national standards in education scheme link
*No jail for $15,000 robbery link
*Unemployment raises to 10 year high link


Please click on any of the topics in the Labels List below the comments section of this page to read other posts relating to the issues this woman has raised.

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Police Car In Fatal Pile-Up In North Shore - Updated

The day after police minister Judith Collins called police joyrides on Target Road Primary's playing fields a "bit of fun" and said she wasn't concerned by it (See "Collins backs police joyrides at school gala") a police car has been involved in a multi-vehicle crash in Albany, North Shore.

North Shore is the same borough that Target Road School is in.

At least one person has been killed and another is in hospital. One report said:

"The collision happened as a police car was passing through the intersection, which has been left scattered with glass and debris.Vehicles involved include a courier van and a jeep.

Prime News reporter Greta Lawson said the police car had its siren on at the time of the crash. "It was a male police officer driving with a female police officer in the passenger seat. And it was not a pursuit - the police here have told us that they were on their way to a different job."

One of five vehicles involved was on its roof and another was a police car, a witness told Radio New Zealand."

View Larger Map, the junction was close to Pinehurst School
Our thoughts are with the family of the deceased person and the other people injured in the incident.

Update
One eye witness gave a calm and frank account of the crash to a Herald reporter - watch the video HERE.  She said she saw the cop car coming the opposite direction with its lights on at a very high speed and hit the black truck, the truck then came down on another car, the cop car then hit another two cars, hit her and travelled another 50/60 metres down the road, fortunately she was unharmed though shaken. Her account seems very different to the official press release issued to Voxy earlier in the day.

The Voxy release did say that an elderly male motorist died in the incident. We'd like to offer deepest sympathies to his family.

734 Police cars crashed in the last year
Figures obtained by the Dominion Post under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that:

"734 police cars have crashed in the past year, only 61 crashed while pursuing speeding vehicles.

Officers involved in car crashes, which included scrapes and dings, were usually dealt with through infringement notices, although court action was brought in serious cases.

In 2008, Auckland Constable Aaron Holmes was convicted of aggravated careless use of a motor vehicle causing injury after an accident outside a primary school* in 2007. He crashed into a street lamp, which fell on the head of a teenager and left him in a coma. Holmes was travelling 80kmh in a 50kmh zone for no good reason.

Four officers in the past five years faced serious criminal convictions such as manslaughter."

*Owairaka Primary on Richardson Road.

The death toll on New Zealand's roads so far this year was at 38 yesterday, already higher than January and February combined last year.

For background see yesterday's post "Police cars "joyriding" on school playing fields"

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Vietnamese Man Killed In Maraekakaho Named As Kim Sol

The Vietnamese vineyard worker who died when his van rolled had only been living in New Zealand for a couple of months. Various news outlets are carrying the following the story about the loss of control crash on a road bend:

 "A Vietnamese man killed when the van he was in rolled near Hastings on Thursday had moved to New Zealand two months ago.
Kim Sol died in Hawke's Bay Hospital yesterday. He was one of eight family members in the van, which rolled after it failed to negotiate a bend on Kereru Road near Maraekakaho, southwest of Hastings, Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter spokeswoman Louise Harvey said.
Six, including Mr Sol, arrived in New Zealand in November and had residency, the Dominion Post reported.
The other two family members, including the driver, had moved to New Zealand about 10 years ago."

He is thought to be the second Vietnamese national to have died this week. So far 21 people have lost their lives in 19 fatal crashes during January.

See also other posts tagged: Dangerous Roads

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Vietnamese Man, Lam Xuan Hu, Dies From Truck Wheel Injuries

Today we heard that the Vietnamese man struck by a loose truck wheel yesterday has died after his life support machine was turned off. Later reports named him as  Lam Xuan Hu, a 24-year-old living in Manukau on a student visa.


News reports said that the he was a passenger on a bus that was hit by one of two large wheels that came flying off a passing truck. The incident happened yesterday in rush hour traffic on the motorway between Otahuhu and Mount Wellington, Auckland.

One of the wheels crashed through the front screen of the bus, rolled down the aisle, rebounded and hit Lam Xuan Hu. Our deepest condolences go out to his family and friends for their sad loss.

We'll leave aside for one moment the issue that yet another foreign national had met an untimely end on New Zealands roads. We'll focus on the point that this incident was one of many in New Zealand recently that have involved trucks.

German cyclist Mia Pusch, the mother and child in Hastings, the two Spanish tourists, the 7 killed on a holiday weekend, the woman in her 60s south of Napier, the Swedish tourists in Northland, German cyclist Stephan Stoermer, Des Eyre, police superintendent Steve Fitzgerald, and many others all met their end in a truck 'accident'.

Some reports say that the truck was recently serviced and that specialist reports into the vehicle's condition had started. We wonder if road-worthiness was a factor in any of the other crashes and if it is time for a review of truck servicing and maintenance and time to tighten-up Certificate of Fitness checks.


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Other German Cyclists Killed In March and August. Stephan Stoermer And Jens Richardon

Today we were reminded that Mia Pusch wasn't the only German cyclist to have died in New Zealand in the last twelve months. Much the same as Mia, another German national was also killed by a truck and it was moving in the same direction as he was.

German tourist Stephan Stoermer  had been on a cycling world tour since 2006, he was winding his way through 26 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia since early 2006 before arriving in New Zealand. He died a week before his tour was scheduled to end when he was hit by a logging truck near Te Puke in the Bay of Plenty on March 12, 2009.

As if it was a portent of worse to come two months previously Police Superintendent Steve Fitzgerald, a road safety expert and National Commander of the Police Communications Centres, was killed when he was involved in a collision with a truck as he cycled home in Petone. At one time Mr Fitzgerald oversaw all NZ road policing operations and achieved significant and sustained reductions in road deaths and injury crashes. That same day, and in a separate incident, Des Eyre also died in Wellington when he collided with a truck.

Another German cyclist died on 6 August in a hit an run at Leeston, 45 km south west of Christchurch. 34 year old Jens Richardon (above, centre) had been living in NZ for a few years. He must have been quite familiar with the peculiarities of the roads and of the local driving habits. His body was eventually discovered by a passing motorist at 7.30pm and police located the offender's car, a dark blue BMW 3251, 20km away.

Slumped over bar
The driver of the car that hit him was seen slumped over a bar shortly before the crash. Phillip Kirkwood Hamilton, 40, of Southbridge, pleaded guilty on 6 November 2009 to driving under the influence of alcohol causing death and failing to stop for an injury accident. He had drunk around 10 pints of beer at a bar in Rolleston from around 2.30pm that day. He told police he knew he had hit a cyclist but panicked because he had been drinking.

He was remanded on bail for sentencing until 8 February and the judge ordered a pre-sentence report on his suitability for home detention, and a victim impact statement from the dead cyclist’s wife.


Home detention? for drinking a skinful and then killing another man?! it's an utter disgrace and is beyond belief. That would be an insult to Mr. Richardson's memory and will send a message out to the local community that if you drink, drive and kill someone you'll likely get off with little more than a slapped wrist. There should be zero tolerance for crimes such as these, it's important that justice is seen to be done.

Stephan Stoermer kept a blog of his journey which was completed for him after his death, here is a rough translation from the original German of the last entry: (link) 

"On 12 March 2009 he arrived at Tauranga Bay of Plenty. He got no further. He got no further. One on the same street in the same direction errant truck ran over him, just like that.

How do we learn from New Zealand in New Zealand is such a thing, more or less than normal: Cyclists must - if they do not want to be killed - to avoid any motor vehicle, no matter which way this comes out.

Niguel Short, author of the famous bike tour leader neuseeländsichen Pedall 'Paradise, writes in the introduction to Bicycle Tours in New Zealand at Relevant Traffic Laws:

    Cyclists should give way to cars and trucks ... or you may be run over!
    New Zealand might be a crank 'Paradise but it is not Utopia! Thus it might be worth investing in a mirror to keep an eye on the moronic drivers approaching from behind.

The Bay of Plenty Times reported on 17 March 2009 about the accident:

    Cyclist this week from one world tour finish
    17/03/2009 by Vicki Waterhouse
    The tourist killed after he was hit by a truck while cycling near Te Puke had been biking around the   world for the past three years and was due to fly home on Friday.
    The man was named today as Stephan Stoermer, 38, of Frankfurt.
    Mr. Stoermer died on the way to hospital after he was hit by a fully load logging truck on State Highway 2 near Te Matai Rd last Thursday night.
    Mr. Stoermer had traveled through 25 countries on his bicycle, throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Australia.
    On his website he talked about being on the move all of his life, but not for the purpose of arriving at a destination.
    "I'm always looking for a new, different mode of traveling," he wrote.
    Mr. Stoermer began his journey in the northern hemisphere's spring of 2006.
    He said on his website he enjoyed touring the world on a bicycle because he always met people with whom he could tour for hours or days and had the most interesting conversations with them.
    On this three-year tour he was meeting people from various cultural backgrounds who shared his interest in cycling.
    He also sought to promote environmentally friendly travel and motivate people to use bikes.
    His website features hundreds of pictures of himself on the road in various locations.
    Senior Sergeant Ian Campion of road policing said Mr Stoermer's family in Germany had been notified of his death.
    Mr Campion said according to Mr. Stoermer's travel documents, he was due to fly out to Frankfurt on Friday after traversing 26 countries.
&nbsp0wA5oGRlTI/AAAAAAAAAI8/htDHt3C/span>He arrived in New Zealand on December 30 and had traveled the South Iceland.
    The Rotorua logging truck driver who drove the truck which hit Mr Stoermer has not been charged over the incident. Police are still investigating the collision.
    Mr Campion said it may be some time until the cause of the crash was determined.

This investigation will probably result hardly anything, since there are no surviving witnesses to give except the truck driver himself, who wrote Websklave in March 2009. That's not quite true anymore.  On 30 September reports Stephen Stormer-sister Ulrike Hertel, after receiving a detailed police report:

    In fact there were witnesses to the accident, and as a result of the investigation of truck drivers because of "reckless driving resulting in death is indicted."

Would you so much, since (insert a sentence or at least the old rauszunehmen) - simply because it is not true, and we otherwise the New Zealand police and their thorough work can not be met.

What the Websklave obviously likes to do.
Cremation in New Zealand
Stephen Stormer was posted on Saturday, 21 March 2009 at 11h30 cremated at the cemetery in Rotorua NZ. Michiel van Dijk and Anna Lim report on the book of condolence. You have set at the accident scene and a small compass to remember and evergreen. "

Stephan visited  Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia,Ukraine,Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand on his journey.

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Brazilian Man, Anderson Luiz Dos Santo, Killed In Queenstown - Updated

The carnage on New Zealand's roads continues with the tragic loss of yet another life. A Brazilian man living in Queenstown since 2005 was killed yesterday in a head-on collision approximately 100 metres from Shotover Bridge. He was later named as Anderson Luiz Dos Santos, age 32. Our thoughts are with his family and friends for their awful loss.

View larger map, the accident happened on the bend in the road
There have been scores of serious crashes already this year with at least 13 people killed, at least three of them on two wheeled vehicles and at least one pedestrian. The death toll is already higher the whole of January 2009.  January's carnage includes

• American journalist, Deborah Howell, who died when struck by a car near Blenheim - link 
• German cyclist Maria Pusch who was killed in Bulls, Manawatu - link 
• Diane Wilton-Jones killed at Maungatapu Bridge near Tauranga - link
• John William Baker, 64 died after his car hit a tree on SH 2 between Napier and Awatoto  link 
• A serious crash south of Auckland that trapped a woman - link
• A police officer who was injured when dragged beneath a stolen police car in Christchurch - link
•  Leith Allan Thomas Hay was badly injured and later died in a head-on crash on State Highway 10 near Kerikeri - link 
• A woman seriously injured when a truck and car collided on SH 57 near  Ihakara, about 8km north of Levin - link 
• Two people seriously injured on a notorious piece of road Marine Parade, West of Auckland - link 
• Two people killed in separate incidents involving a car and a motorcycle. One on Kopaki Road west of Benneydale and the other died on Main Road, Tairua in the Coromandel- link

Update
An appeal has been set-up to assist with the cost of returning Mr. Santo's body to Brazil, but plans to accept donations from the general public have yet to be finalised. see details here.

For other posts about dangerous roads and driving conditions in NZ please see posts tagged Dangerous Roads

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Dead German Cyclist Named As Mia Susanne Pusch - Updated

Police have released the name of the 19 year old German touring cyclist (see previous post ) who died in a road collision in Bulls Manawatu: Mia Susanne Pusch.

Mia had been in NZ on a cycling holiday since late October and was travelling towards Wanganui when she was struck by a truck heading in the same direction, according to a police statement.

Mia kept a public blog of her journey through New Zealand (translation) on the bike she'd called "pinkie". In it she spoke about being constantly harassed by drivers honking their horns at her - sometimes as by way of a greeting, often accompanied by a thumbs up sign. These positive honkers appeared to be particularly frequent in underpowered and overloaded vehicles, people on vacation, since the owners had generally  learned that they didn't need to hurry.

Then there were the less positive types - the negative tooters driven by the importance of an "incredible race against time". Those who were fond of using a loud horn when a cyclist got in their way and slowed them down. The type that would sneak up at high speed to well within her safety zone (0.5 -1.0 metres)  and then overtake with horn blaring, leaving her shaking with adrenaline. 


Her mother is understandably distraught at her daughter's death and we'd like to extend our sincere condolences to her for her unimaginable loss, it's every parent's worst nightmare to lose a child in such a way. 

Update 1

We have discovered that Mia isn't the only German born cyclist to have died in New Zealand in the last 5 months. Gifted post grad student Jens Richardon, who'd been living in NZ for around 10 years and well used to NZ road conditions and drivers, was killed in a hit and run whilst  cycling in Springston-Leeston Rd, about 45 kilometres southwest of Christchurch in August of last year. link

Cycling cannot be considered to be a safe pursuit in New Zealand when there are so many aggressive hoons owning the road. We are instantly reminded of the awful death in October of North Shore doctor Graham Robinson who was struck and killed under similar cirumstances whilst cycling outside of Helensville. The driver of the white Toyota Hillux sped off after hitting him and police have yet to track him down, despite having an excellent description of the vehicle.

We also recall the 'Tamaki carnage' a month earlier when a cyclist was critically injured and three others hurt when a car ploughed into a pack of 20 riders on Tamaki Drive, Auckland. News reports at the time stated

"Witnesses to the crash said the vehicle was turning from Cliff Rd on to Tamaki Dr when it collided with the pack, who were riding from the waterfront towards Vale Rd. They said the car appeared to slow down briefly before speeding towards the cyclists.

"She accelerated into the middle of the group, just cleaned the guys up," said John Cooney. The driver was "roundly abused" by the riders when she stopped. Police inspector Willie Taylor said the driver appeared to have driven through a compulsory stop before colliding with the group."

Heather McCracken's report concluded with details of other cycling fatalities and high number of injuries on NZ's roads during 2009

* Fatal cost of riding your bike
Seven cyclists have been killed so far this year on New Zealand roads.
Last year 10 riders were killed and almost 900 injured, with most crashes occurring at intersections on urban roads.
Last weekend cyclist Frank van Kampen, 46, was killed after being struck by a car near Otaki.
A 34-year-old cyclist was killed last month in a hit-and-run accident near Leeston, Christchurch.
Another Christchurch crash took the life of a 19-year-old cyclist in July.
Two cyclists have been killed in the Bay of Plenty, one in a May accident at a Mt Maunganui roundabout, and another following a crash involving a logging truck near Te Puke in March.
Two Dunedin cyclists have also lost their lives - one after colliding with a car in the city in March, and another in a crash outside of Mosgiel in June."

Pretty awful figures for such a small country. NZ does have the worlds highest car ownership - 720 per 1000 people, even more than the United States' 675 per 1000 people (in 2005) and when that's combined with intolerance towards other road users the weaker and more vulnerable need to be better protected than they are at present.

We suggest a national network of safe cycling routes, in which bike riders are protected from collision hazards with motor vehicles and more publicity given to visitors about which roads are dangerous for cyclists, so that they may plan out their holidays around those routes before they leave home.

Something has to be done to re-educate NZ drivers too, perhaps a national advertising campaign to make them more aware of the difficulties cyclists face and that the roads are for all to share, a revision of the driving test and tougher penalties for dangerous driving causing death or injury.

For other information about NZ poor road death and injury statistics see "Road death toll increases" and "NZ's roads described as killing fields"

See also 1.5m to Survive: 1.5 metres of  space for NZ's 1.5 million cyclists 


Related post : Another German Cyclist Killed In March


Today's posts - click here)

German Cyclist Killed In Bulls, Manawatu

Today we heard the awful news that another tourist has been killed on New Zealand's roads.

A 19 year old woman on a cycling holiday from Germany died after she was hit by a truck on State Highway 3 approxmiately 4km north of Bulls, Manawatu between the junctions with Neumans Line and Stantoft Road. Our thoughts are with her family at this difficult time.

View Larger Map
Her death came days after American journalist Deborah Howell was killed near Springs Creek.

Related posts :
Dead German cyclist named as Mia Susanne Pusch

Facebook group set up in memory of Mia Pusch

Another German Cyclist killed in March - Stephan Stoermer


Today's posts - click here

More On The Tragic Death of Deborah Howell

The Marlborough Express has published further details about the tragic death of American journalist Deborah Howell, who died after being struck by a car near Blenheim on Saturday. Her husband said they were being transferred to accommodation by Marlborough Travel when his wife asked the driver to stop, because she wanted to take a photograph on Rapaura Rd:

The husband of a leading United States journalist killed while holidaying in Marlborough says his wife always told him to face reporters if anything happened to her. Former Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell, 68, a veteran newspaper editor, was fatally injured when she was struck by a car on Rapaura Rd, near Spring Creek, north of Blenheim, about 12.10pm Saturday.

She had stepped out of the car she was in to take a photograph when she was hit by an oncoming vehicle. Her husband, Peter Magrath, said he believed she was not used to cars driving on the left, and had looked the wrong way.

Sergeant Dan Mattison, of Blenheim, said Ms Howell was taken to Wairau Hospital by Blenheim St John Ambulance with serious injuries. She died soon after.

Mr Magrath, a former University of Minnesota president, agreed to talk to The Marlborough Express, because his wife always told him to face reporters. "You don't have to answer questions, but I would dishonour her if I didn't talk to reporters," Mr Magrath said"....read more here

Later news reports stated that the driver of the car that struck Ms Howell was not from the area. Police are investigating whether there are ground for charging her. The most common charge was likely to be careless driving causing death.

According to the report in the  Marlborough Express

"Rapaura Rd, also known as State Highway 62, has previously been labelled the most dangerous stretch of highway in New Zealand.


While the 12.7-kilometre stretch has a relatively low traffic volume, it was the scene of four fatal crashes and two serious injury crashes from 2002 to 2006."

 See also The disturbing toll on New Zealand's roads - The AA wants the Government to put more effort into studying the factors that lead to crashes.


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Spanish Tourists Not To Blame For Fatal Accident

The Northern Advocate has published a story confirming that Spanish tourists were not at fault in a fatal accident on state highway 1, 4km north of Towai (the road between Whangarei and Paihia) on December 22.

Joan Roma Serra and his partner Eva Fajula Rovira from Torello, a town  in  Catalonia, were both 34 years old, died when the camper van they were driving hit a truck and trailer head-on.

Very often tourists are too easily blamed for road smashes in NZ - either because of their inexperience of local driving conditions or because they're affected by jet-lag. It's good to see accident investigators managing to look beyond the nationality of the driver before reaching a conclusion as to the cause of an 'accident'. On this occasion the visitors were simply "in the wrong place at the wrong time" as it seems the truck was on their side of the road.

The stretch of road in question was said to be notorious among truck drivers, many of whom were wary of it. A temporary 70 km/hr limit has now been imposed "uneven surface" warning signs have been put up, why this didn't happen sooner is a mystery, perhaps the tourists' deaths may have been avoided if they had been. Our deepest sympathies go out to the family and friends of the deceased couple for their sad loss.

Very often the nationality of tourists killed or injured on the roads isn't released  to the media and there seems to be no official data on the numbers of tourists involved every year, or of the types of vehicles they were driving. The true extent of the carnage may not be realised.

The last time we heard of Spanish tourists being injured was in August when a family, also travelling in a camper van, were injured in a smash in the Lindis Pass in Cantebury. The same month a French honeymooning couple were injured when their camper van collided with a logging truck north of Napier.

In another fatal smash in Northland in March two Swedish tourists were killed south of Whangarei just hours after they arrived in New Zealand (see blog post) at the time Whangarei police Sergeant Chris Goodall said the road had a "decided history of loss of control accident whenever it rains." and that although the road was three lanes wide there was a tendency for people to "fall off" and to lose concentration. The deceased were later named as 20 year old  Emelie Jenny Green and Theresia Andrea Johansson.  

According to the Herald it was the second fatal accident in the area in two days. Robert Watene, 22, died when his car and a truck collided on State Highway 1 near the Waipu turnoff, about 30km north of the Brynderwyn Hills.

In other posts we've highlighted on many occasions that according to AA information

• New Zealand's Road Safety to 2010 strategy forecasts that 42 lives a year could be saved by improvements in road engineering.
• Installing rumble strips on roads can reduce crashes by up to 27% by preventing run-off-road and head-on collisions.
• Installing a barrier along an embankment can reduce run-off-road casualty crashes by as much as 45%.

Yet scores of crashes are still occurring. Even though accident blackspots are well known about deaths and serious injuries are still happening. What will it take to reduce the carnage on New Zealand's roads?

Thinking of driving in NZ? See 'Accident Blackspots':  what a few of NZ's more infamous and unforgiving black spots look like.


Today's posts - click here

American Journalist Deborah Howell Dies On NZ Roadside

A well known and respected American journalist  Deborah Howell has been hit and killed whilst on holiday in New Zealand. Ms Howell died yesterday after a car hit her on Cravens Road, near Spring Creek at around 12.10pm, she was one of eleven people to die on NZ roads over the holiday period.  Deborah Howell was a former Washington Post ombudsman and one of the first women to lead a major U.S. newspaper. She will be greatly missed.

View Larger Map, general view of Cravens Road
Ms Howell was traveling in New Zealand on vacation with her husband, C. Peter Magrath, at the time of the accident. Her stepson Nick Coleman said Howell suffered fatal injuries when struck by a vehicle. She lived in Glen Echo (source Washington Post)

In March University of Washington student, 22 year old Celia Kelly, died when a Toyota carrying her and four others collided head-on with a Honda near Taupo, New Zealand. Celia was sitting on a back seat and was killed instantly.

On November 10 a 61 year old American tourist and his female passenger were injured when their car collided with a petrol tanker whilst both vehicles were travelling south on Highway 6, between Frankton and Jack's Point at around 8:45 am . The driver had to cut free from the wreckage.

American Rita Zaross, 62, died in a head on crash between two cars in Northland and countless others have been killed and injured over the years, official figures for tourist road casualties aren't available.

New Zealand has an appalling record for deaths and injuries on its roads, which are particularly dangerous for cyclists, see Charity cyclists shocked at NZ's dangerous roads - a blog written by Wouter Van Wezemael who tried to cycle the length of NZ with his family but found it far too hazardous.
see also posts tagged
' Dangerous Roads'
'Accident Blackspots'



Today's posts - click here

American Tourists Injured In Car Wreck

 A 61 year old American tourist and his female passenger were injured when their car collided with a petrol tanker whilst both vehicles were travelling south on Highway 6, between Frankton and Jack's Point at around 8:45 am yesterday. The driver had to cut free from the wreckage, as yet the injured people's names haven't been released.


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7 People Killed In Holiday Weekend Carnage

Despite safety warnings and pleas from police and motoring organisations for people to take care over the holiday weekend at least seven people have died and many more have been injured in 16 separate incidents, some of them from countries such as Germany and Saudi Arabia. The death toll however wasn't as bad as it was over Anzac weekend when 14 people lost their lives, causing the National Road Policing manager, Superintendent Paula Rose to describe the roads as "killing fields".

The fatalities this weekend started on Friday night and have occurred at

• SH 5 Near Reporoa, one person died and another was seriously injured. Shortly after the collision two more vehicles crashed into the wreckage and two more people were hurt.
  

• SH1 at Five Mile Bay, south of Taupo. A head on crash claimed two lives of two women at a spot where there had been numerous serious crashes, the last one only six weeks previously.

• Maungatapu Track in the Maitai Valley, near Nelson. A four wheeled drive rolled into a river killing the 16 year old driver Tod Woodman. Two other people were flown from the scene with minor injuries.

• SH6 at Coal Creek, Greymouth where a motorcyclist was killed when his bike crashed into a bridge.

• Lyttleton Avenue in Porirua where a woman died when she was hit whilst running alongside a bus.

• SH2 near Woodlands Road at Waihi where a van carrying eight people rolled. A Saudi Arabian man was was killed, one critically injured and the rest taken to hospital.
  

Injuries in other incidents included

• Two German tourists in their twenties who were injured when their van hit a bank then rolled onto its roof near Pelorus Bridge as they travelled from Nelson.
• A toddler and a motorcyclist who were critically injured in a collision on SH1 near Huntly. 
• A crash between a truck and car on SH2 Pekapeka Road at Netherton. 
• A driver who was injured when a rental car left SH2 at  Rimutaka Hill, Upper Hutt and rolled down a bank, 
• A car that rolled in the Manawatu Gorge.
• A woman received serious head injuries after she was thrown from her car whilst backing out of  driveway in Manurewa.
• A child was badly injured when it ran out in front of a vehicle in Otara. 
• A woman was seriously injured after being hit by a 4WD vehicle on a rural property west of Hokitika.
• 21-year-old quad bike rider suffered serious spinal injuries after falling from his vehicle on sand dunes at Muriwai Beach, north-west of Auckland. The incident came despite the Auckland Regional Council's promise to crack-down on vehicle safety at the beach over the labour weekend following both deaths and injuries to both drivers and other beach users.
• SH1 northbound at Waikanae was blocked following a crash.
  
  

One Dead In Waiotapu Smash

One person has been killed and two others injured in a four vehicle smash on State Highway 5 at Waiotapu this evening.

Just how four vehicles became involved is unknown at present.


View Larger Map of road through Waiotapu
We believe this to be the 11th death on the roads this month and emergency services are already said to be bracing themselves for a jump in road incidents over the forthcoming Labour weekend.

One Dead As Car Plunges From Bridge At Whangarei Falls - Updated

View Larger Map

One person has been killed after a car came off the road at Kiripaka Bridge and plunged into the Hatea River at Whangarei Falls shortly before 3pm this afternoon. The name of the deceased person has yet to be released.

We believe this to be the 7th death on New Zealand's roads this month.

15 October
The deceased man was later named as Mr Rex Henwood who was said to have been in his 50s.

Woman Killed On SH2 South Of Napier

A woman in her sixities was killed this morning when her car collided with a truck on SH2 south of Napier at around 7am. The cause of the crash has yet to be established. We are saddened by another death on a New Zealand road and our sincere condolences go to her family and the truck driver.

View Larger Map

State highway 2 between Napier and Hastings is ranked 1st nationally for High Collective Risk (or crash density) by KiwiRAP - the New Zealand Road Assessment Programme. SH2 north of Napier to Bay View is ranked 3rd.

The measure for Collective Risk is the total number of fatal and serious injury crashes per kilometre over a section of road.

Another Death On New Zealand's Roads

picture Herald on Sunday

Andrew Thomas Elwood, aged 19, died when the car he was driving crossed a centre line and collided with another car, it then plunged 2 metres down a bank at 7.20pm on Friday. Sunset was around 7.35 that evening so it would've been light still, it's not known at this time if sunstrike would've been a factor but it had rained recently.

According to a report in the Herald locals say that the location of the crash at Fisherman's Point, Whangarei Heads is known as an accident blackspot.

A resident, Ian Kippenberger, has been lobbying the council to put safety barriers on the roadside. He has been driving this stretch of road for 28 years and has been campaigning for improved safety measures for some time.

In June a car plunged 5 metres into the harbour near Fisherman's point just before 9am. Fortunately the female driver was unhurt on that occasion, she'd driven round a corner with a negative camber and lost traction on the road which had become 'greasy' after rain.

You may recall that in some posts recently we've highlighted that according to AA information

• New Zealand's Road Safety to 2010 strategy forecasts that 42 lives a year could be saved by improvements in road engineering.
• Installing rumble strips on roads can reduce crashes by up to 27% by preventing run-off-road and head-on collisions.
• Installing a barrier along an embankment can reduce run-off-road casualty crashes by as much as 45%.

Yet scores of crashes are still ocuring even though accident blackspots are well known about deaths and serious injuries are still happening. What will it take to reduce the carnage on New Zealand's roads?

Our deepest sympathies are with the friends and families of Andrew and the other people involved in the crash, we hope that improvements are now made to this road.