Motorcyclist dies – fourth in less than two weeks

A fatal collision between a motorbike and car in Ruaka¯ ka¯ on Thursday evening was the fourth death of a motorcyclist in less than two weeks.

Emergency services responded to reports of a serious crash at the intersection of Marsden Point Rd and State Highway 1 shortly after 6pm.

Around two hours later police announced the motorcyclist had died.

A spokesman for St John confirmed paramedics only the rider at the crash scene.

The road reopened about 10.30pm after the Serious Crash Unit completed its investigation.

Police appealed to anyone who had witnessed the crash to call the non-emergency police number 105 and quote file number 210416/8531.

Thursday’s crash was the third motorbike fatality in 13 days in Northland and followed a serious crash earlier that morning in Doubtless Bay.

In that incident a seriously injured motorcyclist was flown to Middlemore Hospital in Auckland after a collision with a car on State Highway 10 near Coopers Beach around 9am.

And on Sunday a missing 54-yearold man from the Mid-North on a motorcycle ride with a friend was discovered to have died after leaving Kaitaia-Awaroa Rd at a right-hand bend, travelling down a bank and through a fence before coming to rest in trees about 6m below the road.

The crash occurred about 150m north of Dysart Rd on the south side of Herekino Gorge.

He had been travelling with another rider who raised the alarm when his companion failed to show up on the north side of the gorge.

An eagle-eyed police officer found the deceased man after spotting faint tyre tracks in pine needles beside the road around 8.30pm.

The 1730cc cruiser involved in Sunday’s accident had been designed with long straight roads in mind, not Northland’s unforgiving, twisting roads.

The other fatal bike crashes this month occurred at Te Kao on April 4 and Tutukaka on April 1.