Two Deaths Too Many On Waikato Roads This Christmas

New Zealand Police National News Release
9:43am 26 December 2008
http://www.police.govt.nz/news/release.html?id=4640

26 December 2008

Speed, alcohol and driver inattention are three factors that combined mean Christmas will never be the same for three Waikato families after two people were killed and one critically injured on the region's roads yesterday.

Senior Sergeant Bruce Lyon of the Waikato Serious Crash Unit said it was frustrating for Police to have to deal with what are such avoidable tragedies.

"In the first crash a Holden Commodore sedan has crashed into a bank on Tainui Rd about 12.01am, critically injuring the 23-year-old male driver and killing passenger David James HILL, 23.

"Initial indications are that speed and alcohol were factors in the crash and neither man was wearing seatbelts. It appears Mr HILL'S injuries would have been survivable and the driver's less severe if the pair had been wearing their seatbelts," said Mr Lyon.

The driver is currently in a critical condition in Waikato Hospital, both men lived in close proximity to where the crash occurred.

In the day's second fatal crash an elderly man, on his way to deliver a car load of presents to his family, died after failing to give way while turning on SH1B just south of Gordonton about 5.31pm.

"The driver, James Philip VESEY, 84, of Manukau, appears to have been turning right and has pulled out into the path of a southbound car which struck his car in the rear, spinning it into the path of a northbound vehicle.

"Mr VESEY'S condition appeared initially to be stable with moderate to minor injuries however his condition deteriorated on his way to Hospital and he succumbed to those injuries," said Mr Lyon.

The drivers of the other two cars were shaken but unhurt in the crash.

With both crashes apparently the result of totally avoidable circumstances Police are urging the public to maintain their composure on the roads.

"Driver inattention has cost one person their life while speed and alcohol has cost another with a third person seriously hurt in hospital, Christmas will never be the same for these people's families and it doesn't need to be this way," said Mr Lyon.

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