Families of three Gisborne teens prepare to lay them to rest

The families of three teenagers killed in a two-vehicle smash near Maramarua in the Waikato on Tuesday night are preparing to bury them this weekend.

The 18-year-olds died at the scene when their car and a utility collided about 8.10pm on State Highway 2 at Maramarua, one of the country's worst accident blackspots.

Mary Jane Jo Vanna Kingi-Te Purei, Tiata Te Arohanui Maxwell and their male friend, Te Maungarongo Te Kuiri Kingi, all of Poverty Bay, left Gisborne on Tuesday to travel to south Auckland.

They were due to return to Gisborne today but instead, their families drove through the night to bring their bodies home, to prepare to lay them to rest this weekend.

Tiata's mother Averline Maxwell said her daughter had been tragically taken from them.

"It's every parent's worst nightmare when you get a knock on the door and a police lady is there saying your daughter's name...you just can't comprehend it," she told the Gisborne Herald.

The accident comes as a double loss for Skella Campbell, grandmother of Ms Kingi-Te Purei and aunt of Mr Te Kuiri Kingi.

"I was in disbelief. Now some time has passed, it is slowly sinking in. They arrived home at about 1.30am today and that was when it clicked -- it seemed real," Mrs Campbell said.

"It's overwhelming for this to have happened. But last night when they got home and we removed the lids to the caskets, for some reason when I saw their faces I felt a weight lifted. There was a peace. Whether you like it or not, it's them," she said.

The driver, Ms Kingi-Te Purei had been stopped by police in Matawai near Gisborne at 4pm after clocking speeds of 130kmh, Waikato police spokesman Andrew McAlley told NZPA today.

"She was issued with an infringement notice for speeding and carrying unauthorised passengers in relation to her graduated driver's licence," he said.

"We are making efforts to track down the officer who issued the notice, which was recovered in the wreckage of the car."

The dangerous stretch of highway was closed for two hours today as police tried to find out why the car and ute collided.

Police said it was too early to say if drugs or alcohol were involved, but said they had concerns about the state of the tyres on the Ford Probe car.

It appeared the car lost control on a slight bend and spun into the path of an eastbound Ford Courier.

The teens had to be cut out of the car and the ute driver was airlifted to Auckland's Middlemore Hospital with serious injuries, where he was today in a stable condition.

The deaths had been reported to the coroner, who also attended the scene today.

Western Waikato area commander, Inspector Paul Carpenter, said under current legislation, police can only issue an infringement notice, not seize the vehicle.

"All police can do is warn of the dangers the combination of long trips and driver inexperience pose. Driver's licences are graduated to allow young drivers to learn and gain experience instead of hitting the nation's highways cold.

"Regretfully it appears these young people never had the opportunity to gradually gain that experience and three families are left to pick up the pieces," Mr Carpenter said.

The stretch of SH2 between Pokeno and the turnoff to Thames, dubbed the "unforgiving highway", has had 31 road deaths and seen 56 seriously injured in the last seven years.