Eva Kosanic, French National, Dies In Northland Car Crash (updated)

View Larger Map. The road through Broadwood

Yesterday we wrote about accident blackspots and the dangers presented by posts/poles on roadsides and how some simple measures (warning signs, speed limits, rumble strips, barriers along embankments etc) could reduce the high death and injury statistics on NZ roads. Hours later a French national was killed when the car she was driving failed to take a moderate bend, hit a tree and rolled down a bank.

Reports are that the woman is Eva Kosanic, aged 22. She hit the tree whilst travelling through Broadwood, 48km south east of Kaitaia. Police think that she was driving to Auckland to catch a flight back to Christchurch where she was an intern at Environmental Science and Research. She was due to return to France in the near future. Our thoughts are with her family and friends.

Whilst it's far too early to say why the crash happened we hope that accident investigators will be taking a close look at the road design, presence of warning signs, safety barriers and other relevant safety factors.

Update: A photo of her wrecked car is to the right, a report stated that she may have been in the car for two days before it was discovered.

Her death was the 25th on Northland roads this year, there were 23 last year.

View Larger Map
Eva wasn't the only person to be killed yesterday. Another person died in a single vehicle crash near Matamata racecourse in Waikato just before 11am.
According to the AA

• 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%.

Update 14 Dec 09
A Northland councillor has admitted that the regions roads are difficult to drive safely, so much so that he called for overseas drivers to undergo stringent testing before being allowed to use them and for visitors to be warned of the dangers:

" He suggested a one-day induction course be mandatory before overseas drivers got behind the wheel in New Zealand. Northland's roads were particularly challenging and visitors should be warned of the dangers. "They (the roads) are windy and much narrower than other places. Plus there are plenty of gravel roads they might come across and have absolutely no experience with....

...This year in Northland three foreigners have died in two separate crashes.
Swedish tourists Emelie Jenny Green and Theresia Andrea Johansson, both aged 20, died in a car crash on February 28 this year on the Brynderwyn Hills (ed. a notorious blackspot). The pair were heading south on State Highway 1 when they were going through a right-hand corner which had a 65km/h advisory speed sign in place. Their Nissan Sunny car spun a couple of times before crossing the centre-line into the path of a north-bound Holden Commodore.

In October a French tourist (ed. you mean Eva Kosanic?) was discovered by a passing motorist in a car partially submerged in a river near Broadwood, 48km south-east of Kaitaia"

It should be noted that Eva was driving on a tarmacadamed stretch of road, to suggest that her death may be attributed in some way to her being a "french tourist" and therefore inexperienced is unbelievable. Eva had been living in NZ for some time before she met her death, she wasn't a 'tourist'.

At the time of the Swedish visitors deaths Whangarei 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.

We suggest that rather than trying to blame the victims Northland should get on and improve its road network for everyone's benefit. The AA has already said what needs to be done, why the delay?

See also - "Another death on New Zealand's Roads"

Spanish & Australian and French Tourists Injured In Campervan Accidents

A camper van carrying a Spanish family has been involved in a crash with a car on state highway 8 in the Lindis Pass, Cantebury. The accident happened around 7.30 last night on a hairpin bend. It's thought that Australian tourists may also have been caught up in the incident.

View Larger Map

The driver of the car was seriously injured, seven other people were also injured. Full details here: 8 injured, 1 critically in Lindis Crash.

On 17 August a French honeymooning couple were injured when their camper van was involved in a collision with a logging truck north of Napier. The 27 year old male tourist was taken to hospital with several fractured bones and his wife was also treated for injuries. Full story here: Honeymoon ends in hospital.

See also: 8 tourists killed in NZ crash with timber truck: The dead were a married US couple, a Thai woman, a French man, the New Zealand driver and three members of a family from India.
 
Also see other incidents under: 'Dangerous roads'

Anthony Cressend Attacked At Northland Campsite

The New Zealand Herald is running a story about a group of tourists camping at a 'Northland' campsite, the name of which isn't stated (why is that?) but a report the following day stated the attack took place in Ahipara. One of the group, Frenchman Anthony Cressend, went for a walk after arriving at the campsite in darkness. No one advised them that walking alone wasn't a safe thing to do.

Unfortunately Anthony Cressend says he was then set upon by a gang of three men who broke his jaw in three places and kicked-in his teeth. It's strange that no date is given for the attack, how long ago did this happen and was it around the time of the French Rugby team's tour?

When the incident was reported to the police the paper stated that:

"Police told him they would not investigate without a Kiwi contact number.
"As soon as I said that [he did not have a New Zealand cellphone] the [officer] flipped over his book and said 'Well we can't call outside of New Zealand cell zone'," said travel companion Emily Holloway, 24."

There is no indication from the report if police later decided to investigate the matter further, which may be why the group took their story to the press. The report finishes with "They told their story as a warning to other tourists." (It does make one wonder how many other attacks have gone unnoticed because of similar failures to own a NZ sim card)
Read the full story here : Savage attack ruins experience of NZ

Albania feels safer than New Zealand: (from the Herald report)

"....the trio are trying to stay positive.
But they are shocked by the random attack in a country they had thought to be safe and friendly.
"Even in Albania, which is really dangerous, we have never had this problem, even in Bolivia ... They are just friendly with you and you don't feel it's dangerous," Mr Collomb said."

Damage limitation or reality check?
Whilst some quarters will try to do a damage limitation exercise on this story (we expect to see the "isolated incident" comments any moment) others will take the opportunity to again warn tourists of the dangers they face in New Zealand, there may be more of this type of article in the coming days "False image makes visitors vulnerable" published after the Mathieu Bastareaud furore.

Regular readers of this blog will know that attacks on tourists are not unusual in New Zealand, (Whangarei Council once pondered whether to counter the negative stories or improve the situation -see bottom of page)

Most of us already know about the high profile assaults and rapes of tourists, students and back packers of all nationalities. We know that tourists and visitors need to be as vigilant in NZ as they would be anywhere in the world with high reported crime rates and high numbers of crime victims:
Some tourist attacks in New Zealand
*American peace corp twins were robbed in Christchurch.
*Dutch couple raped and robbed on a campsite in Tuatapere whilst on honeymoon.
*British tourist sexually assaulted near Hururu Falls.
*Dutch couple robbed and sexually attacked Haruru Falls whilst on honeymoon.
*Two British women robbed and sexually assaulted in their campervan at Tokomaru Bay.
*Scottish woman Karen Aim brutally murdered in Taupo.
*German woman Birgit Brauer murdered near New Plymouth.
*Korean man Jae Hyeon Kim decapitated with a spade.
*Japanese tourist robbed at gunpoint in Oamaru.
*Irish cycle tourist Paul Mack bashed, robbed and urinated on.
*6 English and Danish tourists attacked and stabbed in Cashel Mall for having "foreign accents."
*Irish man Robby O'Brien beaten up in Westport.
*American campers Patrick Dykstra and Kelsey McGinley beaten and robbed at Whangarei Falls.
*Australian tourist sexually assaulted in broad daylight in Nelson.
*Canadian tourist left with a fractured skull outside Silver Fern backpackers in Taupo.
*British man Paul Speakman and his young son beaten and robbed in a campervan at Athenree Gorge, Katikati.

Yesterday this blog reported on the sentencing of a thug for the serious assault on Scottish visitor Stuart Martin who was left in a coma and a shoe print on his face after a street bashing in February.

The situation has been serious enough for even tourism managers to call for tourists to be more vigilant and for one victim's mother to threaten to hand out leaflets warning tourists of the dangers:

Attack sparks tourist warning

"A spokeswoman for Tourism New Zealand said New Zealand was still regarded as a safe country, but visitors needed to be made aware of the risks.

"New Zealand is seen as a warm and friendly place, and certainly what has happened is in stark contrast to that reputation," she said.

"We are always concerned about visitor safety, whether it be due to crime or safety -- when tramping, for example. It is our responsibility to get the safety message out there."

Safety messages were put out on tourism websites and leaflets given to visitors, but tourism operators could help.

"Tourism operators should think about talking to their guests about things in their area, whether that be weather or conditions on a certain track or not walking down a dark alley at night," she said.

"We do need to strike a balance with portraying New Zealand as safe, but I don't think operators should be worried about making people aware of the risks. I think most operators would be aware that there would be more damage done by an actual incident."

Tourism West Coast general manager Sonya Matthews said all tourists, from overseas or other parts of New Zealand, needed to be vigilant.

She said they should not be put off touring the country.

"I don't think we want to scare people, but they do need to take general precautions," she said."

See also a quote from General Manager's report to Whangarei District Council, April 2004:

"Tourism advisory group meeting"

"Further cases of tourists being attacked or robbed during their stay in Whangarei have made for headlines here, and an article in the New Zealand Herald. The question of whether it is possible to find ways to counter these negative stories, or improve the situation remains unanswered".

The time is long overdue to find an answer. New Zealand depends heavily on its tourism revenues and can ill afford to lose them during the recession. Improving the tourism experience for visitors will also improve the country for many residents - crime is a significant problem, NZ has the second highest total crimes per capita, the world's highest use of Cannabis and third highest use of Amphetamines.

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