Mum’s pain a Christmas warning

In the days before Christmas, a 7-year-old girl is unlikely to stray far from her hospital bed following the crash that killed her adored ‘‘aunty’’ figure.

The ‘‘hero nurse’’ was killed and four others injured in the collision near Lake Rotoiti.

From her daughter’s bedside, mother Amanda Lorin says it’s horrifying to think of how many other families could go through the same these holidays.

While an investigation into the fatal collision is ongoing, police are worried they’re about to see more wha¯ nau devastated by tragedies on the roads, as Waikato and Bay of Plenty highways clog with holidaymakers.

During the break, drivers are ‘‘exponentially’’ more likely to crash between noon and 6pm, Waikato police road policing manager

Inspector Jeff Penno said.

‘‘It’s a real spike for us after that midday. Your traffic volumes are the highest they’re going to be, people are the wariest they’re going to be.

‘‘That’s really around fatigue. People are driving, it’s hot, they’ve finally started to wind down after a really busy year.’’

Over a general week, between 3pm and 6pm on a Thursday is when there are the most deaths and serious injuries.

Worryingly, the number of alcohol related crashes is increasing, too, Penno said.

Thanks to its popular beaches – such as Coromandel and Raglan – the Waikato swells over the holidays, Penno said.

‘‘When you’re stressing about time, you’ve got your family in the car, you’re rushing; Christmas is a stressful time for so many reasons. Just imagine the stress of losing a family member over Christmas.’’

Lorin will never forget being told her 7-year-old daughter had been badly injured in a collision while on an outing with family and friends.

‘‘It’s really hard to express these sorts of feelings because there really are no words for it.’’

After picking up the phone, she was ‘‘met with sorrow and horrifying sounds’’.

‘‘It’s really hard to think back to. ‘‘The person who told me was upset and crying as well so the first two minutes I was listening in suspense not knowing what had happened to my daughter.’’

Sheila Cheng, a nurse who had a few hours off after a week of treating Whakaari eruption victims, died at the scene.

The loving ‘‘hero’’ and aunty figure to Lorin’s daughter had been in the back seat with her husband who was critically injured.

A Givealittle page has been set up for the family of the ‘‘amazing soul’’.

Her daughter, who remains in Starship hospital, can only get out of bed in small doses and will be in a neck brace until next year.

‘‘She doesn’t remember anything to do with the accident. That day has pretty much been wiped, or suppressed.

‘‘It’s really horrible having to sit in ICU and watch your daughter on monitors with full cuts and grazes over her body and bruises coming up everywhere.

‘‘It’s so horrible and I’d hate for any parent to have to go through this and it’s amazing how many parents have to.’’

By Thursday, there had been 71 deaths on Bay of Plenty roads, 22 more than the same time last year, according to police figures. Meanwhile, 36 people had lost their lives on Waikato roads.

‘‘Whilst we had 46 at this time last year, police see no cause to celebrate,’’ Penno said. ‘‘It is heartbreaking to see the trauma, when you see that a lot of it doesn’t need to happen.’’

Speed was the single biggest determinant of serious injury or death following a crash.

Drivers needed to focus on driving ‘‘appropriate’’ speeds, not reaching the speed limit, especially around complicated or unfamiliar

‘‘It’s so horrible and I’d hate for any parent to have to go through this and it’s amazing how many parents have to.’’ Amanda Lorin

roads, Penno said. ‘‘You cannot drive over Coromandel Peninsula at 100kmh. And nor should you try.

‘‘Our infrastructure isn’t that of a big city, the roads are windy, especially on the Coromandel Peninsula.

‘‘The volume of traffic we put on our infrastructure at this time of year, it simply isn’t made for it.’’

But it’s the ‘‘through’’ roads posing a big risk of deaths or serious injuries, road policing team leader Senior Sergeant Rupert Friend said.

‘‘It’s people arriving off planes and being tired, coming to see people for Christmas and driving to Taranaki. It’s people who have worked all day then hit the road at 6pm or 7pm at night. Then fatigue hits two hours down the track. So we’ll have a fair number of highway patrol staff down State Highway 27, State Highway 3 and State Highway 1 in the southern area as well.’’

Hospitals were seeing more major trauma from road collisions.

Even when crashes weren’t fatal, lives could be changed forever following ‘‘devastating’’ injuries, Waikato DHB trauma surgeon Grant Christey said.

‘‘Numbers of major trauma have gone up from 240 last year, in 2018, to over 320 in 2019.

‘‘Mostly high speed road crashes including cars with young people, that seems to be on the increase.’’

‘‘The most devastating thing is when you see a young person come in with a severe brain injury. We know their lives are never going to be the same.

Those long-term effects for the victim and the burdens on their families are ‘‘heartbreaking’’ to witness, Christey said.

But those families – sometimes worried about their loved one being blamed following a crash – don’t always seek help.

‘‘Trauma patients and their families become a little bit invisible in the long term. They don’t get all the support that they need.’’

Police urge anyone with concerns around someone’s driving can call *555 to report.