Bay man dies in head-on smash

By CARLY UDY
A Bay man died instantly in a head-on smash on State Highway 2 near Papamoa yesterday - becoming the sixth person to perish from crashes on our roads in 18 days.
Eighteen-year-old Rupe Ririnui of Papamoa, who was travelling towards Te Puke in a white Mitsubishi, was killed instantly and two others suffered serious injuries when his car and another vehicle collided.
The accident happened just past the Kairua Rd intersection, 19km southeast of Tauranga, just before 12.30pm.
Two other motorists plus a police officer managed to narrowly avoid being involved in the carnage.
The driver of the other car involved, a 38-year-old local man, was trapped and had to be cut from his Holden Commodore. His 30-year-old female passenger sustained serious injuries. Both were in Tauranga Hospital in a serious but stable condition this morning.
Firefighters also had to cut Mr Ririnui's body from his car.
One of the first on the scene was Tauranga police Sergeant Wayne Hunter, who was on his way to Opotiki when he narrowly missed becoming involved in the collision.
Mr Hunter was following Mr Ririnui and was two cars behind him. He said he and other vehicles were in a line of traffic, travelling around 80 to 90kmh.
He said he knew this because he'd just looked at his speedometer before the collision occurred.
He did not believe speed was a factor.
Mr Hunter managed to stop in time and joined other motorists - who all got out of their vehicles and dialled 111 on their cellphones - in checking on those trapped inside the cars.
"The two that were trapped were conscious but pretty incoherent and were complaining of hurting.
"One of the air bags had gone off and I believe this may have saved his [the driver's] life. The other car was totalled, he was dead straight away," Mr Hunter said.
Of the accident, he said: "It was quite scary, I've been to a few crashes in my time. That's my job. I deal with inquests but that's the first time I've come so close [to being involved]. It was scary. I must say I drove pretty good after that."
Mr Hunter organised for members of the public to alert traffic from the Papamoa roundabout end and said an ambulance on its way to Tauranga Hospital with a heart attack patient arrived 30 seconds later.
The ambulance officers were able to stay until further emergency service crews arrived.
The road was closed at the intersection of SH2 and Kairua Rd and traffic was diverted at the Welcome Bay Rd-Kairua Rd intersection and at the SH2-Domain Rd intersection.
The crash brings this year's road toll of local people up to six after five Western Bay residents died in a horror 24 hours, starting on April 29.
On that Sunday, Gordon Manu Armstrong, 54, got into his grey Honda with his five-year-old son and granddaughters, aged seven and eight.
He drove about 70km around Lake Rotorua to State Highway 33 near Rotorua. There, he allegedly smashed into two motorcycles, killing three friends - Antoinette (Toni) Dommerholt-Purchase, 43, her partner Simon Short, 37, and fellow rider, Leon Mason - and seriously injuring his child passengers.
Mr Armstrong died the following day.
Tauranga property developer Aaron Mee died in a three-car crash at Maungatapu on April 30.
The accident happened when Mr Mee, 33, who was driving a Holden ute north on State Highway 29 and 2 towards Te Maunga, and an oncoming 4WD collided.
A third car was then involved.
Mr Mee, the sole occupant of the ute was thrown from his vehicle, and died at the scene.