‘We had to say goodbye to a coffin’
Deena Coster looks at seven years of crashes involving milk tankers, after the death of another motorist.
Greg Margerison will never stop missing his ‘‘amazing’’ mum.
On January 30, 2010, Robyn Lesley Margerison left her home in Opotiki, bound for Tauranga where she planned to visit her partner.
As she negotiated a bend, she lost control of her car and skidded directly into the path of a milk tanker. Her car and the truck’s cab burst into flames. Robyn Margerison, 61, died instantly but the tanker driver survived.
Due to the extent of his mother’s injuries, Greg Margerison was not able to see her before she was buried.
‘‘We had to say goodbye to a coffin basically,’’ he said.
The coroner’s findings into the circumstances of Robyn Margerison’s death is one of 16 released to the Sunday Star-Times by the Ministry of Justice relating to crashes involving milk tankers and other vehicles between 2007-2014.
All Fonterra tankers are fitted with software to improve their safety and overall performance. Barry McColl
Of those, 10 were directly linked to mistakes or misbehaviour of the people driving in cars, on motorcycles or in one case, riding a bicycle. Excessive speed, drug or alcohol use and inexperience were common factors in the majority of cases reviewed.
Two of the fatal crashes were caused by milk tanker drivers, who were subsequently convicted of careless driving causing death.
The circumstances related to the latest fatal crash involving a milk tanker are still under investigation.
On Wednesday, Andrew Marshall Reinders, 53, of Lower Hutt died after the car he was driving and a milk tanker crashed east of Hawera, South Taranaki.
Three other cases are still active before the coroner, including the February 25 triple fatality in Patea, which killed Chantelle Giles and John and Cherylene Bayne. The car the trio were in collided with a Fonterra milk tanker on the town’s main street.
Fonterra’s general manager of transport and logistics, Barry McColl, said in the aftermath of accidents where a company tanker is involved, ‘‘robust procedures’’ were put in place to ensure there was support for its staff.
Of the 16 cases reviewed by the Sunday Star-Times, six related to crashes where it was specifically stated the drivers were directly employed by Fonterra. Of those, only one was found to be the fault of the tanker driver.
McColl said the dairy giant took the safety of all road users seriously. Fonterra operates one of the largest transport fleets in New Zealand with more than 500 tankers on the road.
‘‘All Fonterra tankers are fitted with software to improve their safety and overall performance, recording incidents such as harsh cornering, heavy braking and speeds above 90 kilometres. These results are reviewed daily and form a key part of a driver’s assessment,’’ he said.
Tom Cloke of the Road Transport Association said the trucking industry as a whole had made a concerted effort to improve its safety record.
However, Cloke said accidents involving milk tankers or trucks were often caused by other drivers.
‘‘It’s people taking risks, passing in silly places and doing all those sorts of things,’’ he said.
Due to the size difference, smaller vehicles were generally going to come off second best.
Greg Margerison said he still thought about the tanker driver who recovered from the horrific crash which claimed his mother.
‘‘It probably affected him just as much as it affected us.’’