Tributes posted for Karitane woman

TRIBUTES have flowed for the Karitane woman who died in a twocar crash near the coastal Otago settlement last Friday.

Janis Rosina Byrne died and four others were seriously injured when two cars collided on State Highway 1 near Karitane on Friday afternoon.

Police confirmed the identity of the deceased 60yearold yesterday.

‘‘Janis was an asset to the East Otago community, there will be very few families unaffected by her death, just heartbreaking,’’ one person wrote on social media

The location of the crash was very close to where 64yearold Kaikoura man Stuart Windle died in a fivecar crash during Queen’s Birthday weekend last year. Mr Windle died when his car and others were involved in a crash caused by drugaffected learner driver Warrick Delaney Taylor (23).

State Highway 1 between Oamaru and Dunedin was part of the Government’s safe roads and roadsides programme but New Zealand Transport Agency senior safety engineer Roy Johnston said it was yet to be decided whether the stretch of road Ms Byrne died on would get safety improvements.

‘‘The area you refer to is being considered as part of the transport agency’s SH1, Oamaru to Dunedin Safe Roads and Roadsides project,’’ he said.

‘‘Specific measures for this route and sites within it have not been finalised.’’

timothy.brown@odt.co.nz