A resident complained to police about vandalism at a Hawke’s Bay intersection more than six months before it contributed to a crash that killed a Canadian tourist.
The man said he had regularly called police to report hoons doing burnouts and causing damage in the area around Bridge Pā, near Hastings, for years, but nothing seemed to be done.
Meanwhile, a survivor of the 2023 crash, which killed Helen Poon, said if police were notified of and aware of the damage before the crash, “then that is a colossal systems failure that directly resulted in the death of my friend”.
“The trauma of what happened stays with me and it’s devastating to know this crash was preventable,” said Margareta Dovgal, who was travelling with Poon and injured in the collision.
The man who took photographs of damage to the intersection does not want his name published, because of possible retaliation from the hoons, whom he said were “a law unto themselves”.
Helen Poon was a local government politician in Port Alberni, British Columbia. Photo / City of Port Alberni Facebook
“Some of these little f****** are just nutters,” he told NZME.
“They are left to run rampant, which they do most weekends.”
Died five days after crash
Poon, a 34-year-old local government politician from British Columbia, drove a borrowed Audi coupe through the intersection of State Highway 50 with Maraekakaho Rd near Hastings, on December 30, 2023, without realising she was supposed to give way.
She collided with a Toyota Land Cruiser and died from her injuries in Wellington Hospital five days later.
A coroner found the heavily vandalised state of the intersection, with the road markings almost obliterated by drivers doing burnouts, was a contributing factor to the fatal crash.
One of the give way signs at the intersection was missing and the other one had been turned to face the other way. A chevron signboard opposite the junction had been removed.
Signage from the intersection of State Highway 50 and Maraekakaho Rd, near Hastings, was burned on the side of the road, which is heavily marked with burnout damage. Photo / Supplied
“There was no clear indication, by way of signage or road markings from Ms Poon’s point of view, that she was required to give way,” Coroner Mark Wilton found.
The description of damage to the intersection in the coroner’s report and a photograph taken on the day of the crash, are consistent with images the resident sent to police more than six months earlier, on June 5, 2023.
Road signs found burned and blackened
When he emailed police, he attached a photograph of the chevron sign, which the coroner later mentioned was missing. It was found blackened and burned on the side of the road.
A triangular sign, which appears to be the missing give way sign, is also in the image.
“Road safety is a joke to these people and they are operating on our roads with impunity,” the man said in his email to police, which reported an “escalating issue” with hoon activity and property damage most weekends.
The intersection of Maraekakaho Rd and State Highway 50, near Hastings, photographed on December 30, 2023, the day of the collision that claimed the life of Helen Poon. Photo / Coroners Court
“This morning … I drove to the site and was stunned by the level of destruction,” the man wrote.
“Not only was the road surface completely blackened, but signage had also been knocked/ripped down and was sitting in a burnt pile on the side of the road, along with shredded tyres, steel, broken glass and rubbish.”
Names and regos found online
He said he had found material that the hoons were posting online, which revealed names, registration numbers and photos of vehicles.
NZME asked police if anyone could be held to account for the damage, especially given someone had died and the hoons’ unlawful actions had contributed to the crash.
“While damage caused by anti-social road user behaviour was a factor to the fatal crash, police do not know exactly when this damage was caused or who caused it,” the Eastern District Road policing manager Inspector Angela Hallett said.
Hallett said police were regularly targeting anti-social behaviour on the roads, as seen in “multiple operations” and patrols around areas of concern.
“When police are notified or are aware of anti-social road user gatherings taking place, we can take enforcement action such as observing the gathering, conducting breath tests and issuing infringement notices,” she said.
“We know the impact this behaviour has on our community, and police do not tolerate these activities on our roads.”
Man called police ‘many times’
Yet the man said he had called the police “many times” and the activity continued regularly.
“The fact that the cops don’t do anything is worrying,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter how many times I call them, nothing seems to be done.”
The intersection of Maraekakaho Rd and State Highway 50 after it had been repainted and remediated after the collision that claimed the life of Helen Poon. The photo was taken a day or two after the crash. Photo / Coroners Court
The New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) is responsible for the maintenance of state highways.
NZTA regional manager of system design Lisa Faulknor said the agency had received the coroner’s report and had been co-operating with the coroner to provide information about the site.
Changes considered to intersection
She said NZTA reinstated the give way sign and repainted line markings immediately after Poon’s crash.
As a trial, it also installed high-friction surface strips through the intersection to deter people from doing burnouts.
NZTA said it was considering other improvements at the intersection, subject to funding being available, including a raised island, advance warning rumble strips, and changing the layout to give traffic on SH50 priority.
Friends Helen Poon (left) and Margareta Dovgal were travelling New Zealand together when tragedy struck and Poon died ater a crash. Photo / Margareta Dovgal
“NZTA is continuing to work with the police to ensure any solutions at this intersection will be successful in curbing anti-social driving behaviour,” Faulknor said.
NZME sent the comments from the police and NZTA to Dovgal, Poon’s travelling companion, with an invitation to comment.
‘Who was accountable?’
“If it’s true that people had been warning the authorities for months, that is deeply troubling,” she said.
“I suppose I am left with a question: who was ultimately accountable for the failure to maintain that intersection.
“It raises serious questions about why the intersection wasn’t made safe sooner, and who will ultimately take responsibility for ensuring that failures in cross-agency co-ordination that have life-threatening consequences are remedied – not just in that specific intersection, but generally.”
Hallett said police needed help in preventing and responding to anti-social driving incidents, asking people to call 111 if it was still happening, “with as much information as safely possible”.
“For your own safety do not attempt to interact with anti-social road users whilst they are committing their offending,” Hallett said.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay.
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