Woman killed in crash intoxicated – coroner

A north Canterbury insurance saleswoman was drunk and had consumed cannabis when she crashed her car into a power pole, a coroner has found.

Coroner David Crerar said in his findings that Alana Elizabeth Adams, 29, died after her car veered off Flaxton Rd in Rangiora and crashed into a power pole about 4am on March 3 last year.

The cause of death was ‘‘highenergy impact to head and limbs’’. Her car caught fire and incinerated her body.

Crerar said Adams, from Kaiapoi, was intoxicated and doing more than 100kmh in a zone temporarily designated 50kmh for roadworks.

Adams and her partner had planned to stay at the Anglers Arms on the evening of March 3.

The couple went to a party together but later had an argument and Adams, upset and angry, drove off in her Holden Commodore. It was found by other motorists, embedded in a concrete power pole.

Adams’ car was travelling between 109kmh and 120kmh when she lost control, Crerar said. The car was travelling between 87kmh and 97kmh when it hit the pole and burst into flames. She was probably unconscious or dead before the fire as no traces of soot were in her lungs.

Crerar said forensic toxicologists found alcohol in Adams’ blood nearly three times the legal limit and traces of cannabis were in her system. He said the death was another example of the fatal consequences of alcohol and cannabis consumption.