The full impact

Crash investigators' spray paint markings show the trajectory and final resting spot of the car...
Crash investigators' spray paint markings show the trajectory and final resting spot of the car full of young people that fatally collided with a ute at the intersection of Hope and Stafford Sts, Dunedin. Photo by Bruce Munro.
Bernie and Barbara Devlin, of Milton, stand outside Dunedin Court in 2007, holding a photo of...
Bernie and Barbara Devlin, of Milton, stand outside Dunedin Court in 2007, holding a photo of their son Regan (19) who was killed in a three car crash in December, 2005. Photo from ODT files.
The Stafford St intersection at which the fatal collision took place last month. Photo by Peter...
The Stafford St intersection at which the fatal collision took place last month. Photo by Peter McIntosh.

The death of Nakita Strange, when a ute and a car full of young people collided at a Dunedin intersection, made headlines last month.

So often, these tragedies are in the spotlight for a moment and then ''disappear''. But of course they do not go away. The impacts are far reaching, touching many people.

Bruce Munro, Shane Gilchrist and Allison Beckham trace the heart rending ripples.

The intersection of Hope and Stafford Sts sits in silence.

Late evening, this inner city Dunedin crossroads, bounded by bluestone St Matthew's Church, a patchwork daubed brick warehouse, a public hotel recycled as flats and a set of remodelled terrace houses, is entirely bereft of people.

At first glance, apart from the pervasive quiet intermittently broken by scurrying vehicles, the junction is just another slightly down at heel, inner city scene.

But it is a normality that is veneer thin.

Look closer, and a trail of white spray paint dots leads from the road, up over the kerbside, across the footpath to a series of short blue painted lines beneath a multi hued bruise on the terrace house front garden wall.

On the opposite corner, taped to a power pole, is a bunch of small roses beneath a handwritten message, ''RIP Nakita 'Kita' Strange''.

Something happened here that is reverberating still; a shockwave through lives and time.

Just after two o'clock, in the early hours of Wednesday, July 29, a Ford Courier ute and a Ford Laser hatchback collided at the Hope and Stafford Sts intersection. A sickening crunch followed by screams pierced the stillness as the car carrying six young people careened on to the pavement.

Police are still investigating the crash, and charges are likely.

At the epicentre are the occupants of the two vehicles.

Before paramedics arrived, the ute driver, the sole occupant of the vehicle, provided CPR to 18 year old Nakita Strange, of Invercargill, a passenger in the car.

Ambulances took all six young people to Dunedin Hospital's emergency department.

Miss Strange died. Another of the other passengers was left with serious facial injuries.

Friends and family are swamped by the first wave emanating from the physical point of impact.

Within hours, dozens of tributes were posted online.

''Rest easy beautiful lady'', ''you'll always be remembered, going to miss you heaps'', ''Heart breaking'' and ''amazing young girl. Gone but not forgotten'', were among comments on an online page opened in Miss Strange's honour.

In Invercargill, Miss Strange's father Mark Strange was woken at 4am by police with the news his daughter had died.

''I thought, 'Why was it her had to go?','' Mr Strange said.

''She was well loved. She was the only girl in the family.''

Her brother Quade said he had lost his best friend; the person he turned to to discuss his feelings and to seek advice when he was down.

Miss Strange's grandmother Ivy Strange said her death hit the family hard, particularly the younger members.

''One of my grandsons who is 6 wouldn't come into the lounge because Nakita's photos are in here,'' Mrs Strange said.

The ripples do not stop there. Police estimate that for each vehicle accident on New Zealand roads, about 500 people are affected. Based on that assessment, the 187 road crash fatalities this year (as of August 25) have touched more than 90,000 people.

''When we lose a life on the road, it's not just one person or family affected,'' Superintendent Steve Greally, national road policing manager, says.

''There is a much wider effect. We are talking about relatives, friends, schools, employers, sports clubs.''

Supt Greally calls it ''the theft of a future''.

''That's a huge tragedy for the community. How could that person have contributed to wider society?

''It must be absolutely destroying to people who were doing the right thing but find themselves involved in a serious accident.

''Equally, someone who just made a mistake ... that's terrible, too.

''Our staff go to scenes ... and see the impacts of inertia on a human body. I tell you, police, fire, ambulance officers have had enough of it. We have to find a way to deal with it.''

Those living in flats closest to the intersection of Hope and Stafford Sts were first on the scene.

They saw the mayhem, phoned emergency services, offered what assistance they could. It is probably why they, the most affected of all the residents in the vicinity of the crash, are the least willing to talk about it.

A woman in her 20s, with an open, sensitive face, lives in the hotel turned flats on the corner. She says it has taken her a while to get over what she saw and heard. She declines to elaborate. But she will take contact details and see whether flatmates want to get in touch.

No one calls. A few doors further up Hope St, however, residents are more forthcoming. Tim Boylson Doyle (22), an Otago Polytechnic design student, formerly of Queenstown, climbed out of a window on to the second storey balcony of his flat to survey the scene.

Flatmate Pollyanna Howie (20), a polytechnic cookery student, also of Queenstown, did not wake until police knocked on their door looking for an occupant of the Laser.

Each day for the next week, Miss Howie noticed that a woman would come and lay fresh flowers at the crash site.

''It was really sad,'' Miss Howie says.

''It makes you realise that those involved were all important to other people, and how affecting it would be for them.''

In typical New Zealand style, the flatmates have not talked much about the accident because, Mr Boylson Doyle says, ''it feels a bit weird''.

But they have thought about it. Both flatmates independently say the crash has made them think of a fatal crash in Queenstown almost six years ago.

''I've thought about it a lot,'' Mr Boylson Doyle says.

''It was a big shock. She was young and she wasn't driving the car. It was such a shame.''

That is a good number of years after the event for the two of them to still be mulling it over. It is here, in the medium to long term, that the pervasive, persistent and pernicious reach of ripples begins to become clear.

In December, it will be the 10th anniversary of the death of Regan Devlin in a three car crash near Milton. Regan's mother Barbara (55) says the family is still feeling the repercussions.

Twelve Milton teenagers, aged 17 to 19, were involved in the crash on State Highway 1, 5km north of Milton, at about 12.10am, on December 9, 2005.

Five of the teenagers were hospitalised, some with serious head and internal injuries. Regan, who was 19 years old, was killed.

''It was absolutely devastating,'' Mrs Devlin, mother of four, recalls.

''We don't want others to go through what we have been through. We want others to learn from our experience.''

The family's story is told in a DVD and accompanying road safety programme, Milburn Crash, which is run in Dunedin secondary schools Mrs Devlin's husband Bernie became clinically depressed.

The couple's two adult children Corey and Amber, and Amber's two young children, returned to the family home. Amber, who was six years older than Regan but born on the same date, also became deeply depressed.

''I didn't have time to get sick,'' Mrs Devlin says.

''I was too busy looking after the others. I got the routine things going again as quickly as possible so everyone could keep functioning.''

For Mrs Devlin, the effects fell like a hammer blow six years later.

''I used to be very organised. But I just couldn't get there anymore.

''All my hair fell out. That was when I went and got counselling. It was very, very helpful.''

Connor (19), their youngest son, has also felt the impact more acutely with time.

''He feels guilty because he gets to do things Regan will never do,'' Mrs Devlin explains.

He has also chosen not to get his driver's licence, despite driving vehicles on the farm.

Corey ''struggles to return to Milton'' because of its associations with his brother's death.

Regan had been like a father to Amber's daughter Courtney (14), Mrs Devlin said.

''She always remembers the anniversary of his death.''

Birthdays and Christmases are difficult.

''You want to be happy. But you're aware that he's missing.''

Back in Invercargill, Miss Strange's grandmother sits quietly in her lounge. It is all still so raw. The ripples have only just begun.

She does not expect the pain of losing their ''freelance girl'' to ever fade.

''We miss her, and that will never change for us.''


Making a difference

A horrific three car crash near Milton a decade ago, and its tragic legacy, is being used to help senior secondary school pupils stay safe on the roads.

Milburn Crash is a DVD and accompanying road safety programme developed by the Dunedin City Council, police and NZTA.

It features interviews with those involved in the crash including emergency services personnel and the family of teenager Regan Devlin who was killed in the crash, which also seriously injured several other young people.

It is being used in Dunedin schools with year 13 pupils, DCC Dunedin road safety adviser Deborah Palmer says.

''The aim is to get them to engage with the material and develop their own strategies to avoid ending up in similar situations,'' Ms Palmer says.

She hopes the DVD and resource material will be available free online by the end of October.


CRASH: COUNTING THE COSTS

• 187 people have died in road crashes in New Zealand this year (as of August 25), compared to 165 in the same period last year.

• 14 people have died in road crashes in Otago this year.

• In the 12 months to July, ACC paid $367.9 million in motor vehicle injury costs.

• In Otago, for the same period, the cost was $17.2 million.

• The ACC costs include transport to hospital, long term hospital and medical treatment, dental treatment, death grants and compensation, lump sum payments, social and vocational rehabilitation and independence allowances.

• They do not include the first six weeks of hospital treatment.

• Nationally, ACC motor vehicle accident costs have risen 15% during the past three years.


 

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