Multiple deaths on corner known to be ‘tricky’
The grandson of one of the seven people killed in a horror crash on Wednesday says the corner where his grandmother died ‘‘seemed to have a sharper angle than most’’.
Hayden Mischefski, the grandson of crash victim Ora Keene, had driven from Carterton to support his family who had lost a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother.
He stopped at the crash site, by Waverley Race Course, yesterday to try to fathom how seven people died on a blue sky Taranaki morning. ‘‘Just to get a sense of it. ‘‘It’s surreal,’’ he said.
It is still not known what caused the two-car crash that claimed the lives of Waverley residents Ian Porteous, 80; Rosalie Porteous, 76; Ora Keene, 84; and Brenda Williams, 79; as well as 8-year-old Nivek Madams; her 8-week-old sister Shady Thompson; and Shady’s father, Jeremy Thompson, 28.
Ani Madams, Nivek’s mother, remains in critical condition in Wellington Hospital.
Mischefski does not know where the car of four Waverley people was going when they lost their lives on the corner.
He described his grandmother as kind and homely.
‘‘She was really cool.’’
He used to come to his grandparents’ farm every school break to help with shearing and hay making. Ora would keep the kids in line: ‘‘take your hands out of your pockets, sit up straight.
‘‘All the courtesies that grandparents pass on.’’
His grandfather died of cancer about four years ago. He had not seen his grandmother in a while but had introduced her to his 6-year-old son – one of three greatgrandchildren. ‘‘I came here to try to understand,’’ he said.
The corner on which a crash claimed seven lives has been described as ‘‘tricky’’ by another Waverley resident.
Stu Buckland said the corner of SH3 north of the South Taranaki town was well known as one to take care on.
‘‘You got to make sure you keep to the left because that corner drags you over if you don’t know it well,’’ he said.
‘‘I make sure I keep to the left. ‘‘If I don’t, you can easily end up on the wrong side.’’
Buckland said he measured rainfall every day at Waverley; there was 5 millimetres of rain overnight Tuesday and a heavy frost on Wednesday morning.
However, Pa¯tea fire brigade chief fire officer Grant Hurley was one of the first on the scene at the crash and said the stretch of road was not particularly dangerous and conditions were perfect.
Buckland said he was not surprised by the crash at the site, which claimed the lives of three of his friends but said he could not remember a fatal crash at the site before Wednesday’s tragedy.
Depending on which way you are driving, the crash site is at the beginning or the end of a long S bend. The surface is in good condition, well cambered and the road before and after the s bend is straight. The crash corner is sign posted for 85kmh but Buckland said most drivers who knew the road could travel around the bend faster than that.
There are wide grass berms on either side. One side of the road is bordered by a wire fenced paddock and the other runs alongside a railway line.
Despite heavy frosts throughout Taranaki on Wednesday that precipitated warnings from police to take care on roads, by the time of the crash conditions were reported to be clear.
Crash debris is still visible at the site, as are spray paint marks showing the point of impact and where the two vehicles came to rest. Harry Wilson, NZTA director of safety and environment, said the crash site would be reviewed.