Childhood friends Felix Chee Yin Lai and Spencer Jason Hom Dow, both 23 and of Boston, were driving from Te Anau to the resort town on November 1, 2018, when their rental car collided head-on with a tour bus on the Kingston-Garston Highway.
Mr Dow died at the scene and Mr Lai, who was driving, died in Dunedin Hospital two days later.
A report into the men’s deaths by coroner Heather McKenzie, released this week, found their vehicle was reported to police two days before the crash.
After hiring a Ford Focus in Queenstown on October 30, the pair were driving south to Te Anau the next day when John Hay called *555 to report the car had weaved in and out of traffic .
It had overtaken him near Mossburn on double-yellow lines or a blind corner — he could not remember which — when he was travelling about 100km per hour.
The pair checked into a backpackers in Te Anau before spending the rest of the day sightseeing on the way to Milford Sound and back.
At 5.38am on the day of the crash, Mr Dow sent a text message to his mother saying they were on their way to Queenstown, with plans to go bungy jumping and jet-boating.
Two drivers overtaken by the Ford Focus before the 7.20am crash were surprised by its speed.
Simon Cade recalled seeing it begin to overtake a truck and thought the driver would not be able to see oncoming traffic because of a dip in the road.
The driver of the truck, Bruce Moffatt, said he saw an oncoming bus as he approached the top of the dip.
In the corner of his eye he noticed a vehicle overtaking him, but did not see it clearly until just before it collided with the bus.
The bus driver, Dong Lim, said he saw the Ford Focus head straight towards him as he neared the top of the hill.
In the two or three seconds before impact, all he could do was brake hard as there was a ditch on the left side of the road and the truck on the right.
Nine occupants of the bus, all wearing seatbelts, received minor to moderate injuries.
Ms McKenzie said she agreed with the police crash analyst’s conclusion the crash was caused by Mr Lai overtaking in a marked no-passing area, with reduced forward visibility, when it was "not legal, safe, or clear to do so".
"Excessive speed may also have been a contributing factor, but I do not have conclusive evidence to make a definitive finding on this."
She also noted the presence of cannabis in Mr Lai’s blood.
She noted Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency had reviewed the crash scene, and although yellow no-passing lines extended for 500m south of the crash site, it had added four new "no passing" signs for northbound traffic.
