‘ Dear bad drivers . . .’

7-year-old’s open letter

Terrified after a car nearly wiped her and her mum out on the drive home, a 7-year-old has written an open letter to dangerous drivers.

Lorna May Keen of Hikurangi, 17km north of Whanga¯ rei described a near head-on collision on State Highway 1, drew the offending car and driver and emailed them to the Herald’s sister paper, the Northern Advocate.

“I hope someone can tell the man how to drive safely and maybe give him some training,” the Hukerenui School student said. “Don’t overtake on yellow lines and on bridges. You may cause a crash or an injury.”

Lorna May was returning home from the school pool about 6.10pm on Monday when mum Hannah saw a yellow car pull out of oncoming northbound traffic to overtake on yellow lines. Lorna May was sitting behind the front passenger’s seat.

“I said, ‘Oh my gosh, I’d better pull over’ but there was nowhere to stop,” said Hannah. “So we slowed right down to maybe 10km/h and he was a few car lengths [away] when he pulled back in. If I hadn’t slowed down, there would have been a headon collision. I burst into tears and cried all the way home.”

Lorna May said there were passing lanes on SH1 but impatient drivers were reluctant to wait for them. She hoped her drawing might help catch the “naughty man” who scared them.

“His car was dark yellow like the certificates we get at school for third place. The car was more like a rectangle than a curved car. There was black trim around the doors. He had brown hair and a greenish T-shirt.”

Lorna May didn’t see much of the near-miss or fully realise what had happened until she reached home and grandmother Davina Keen encouraged her to draw a picture and helped her write the letter.

The incident comes after 382 people died following crashes on our roads last year, the most since 2009.

Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter described the toll as a “staggering and unnecessary loss of life — equivalent in scale to a major airline crash”.

Senior Sergeant Ian Row of Northland highway patrol pleaded with motorists to drive safely. “People overtaking impatiently when it’s not needed can have fatal consequences and other people have to wear those consequences. We are all enjoying summer. We should all know the roads are busy so plan your journey and be patient.”