A Western Bay woman believed to be on her way to Auckland airport to collect family for Christmas was among two people killed in a road smash at Mangatawhiri yesterday. Police today named the 21-year-old Tauranga woman as Anna-Leah Simmonds. It is believed she was on her way to Auckland tocollect her mother who had flown from the South Island for Christmas. The sole male occupant of the other vehicle, Shunichi Yazaki, 37, from Howick in Auckland, also died. The two-lane highway funnels traffic off the Southern Motorway to Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and eastern Waikato - and has claimed 30 lives in the past five years. In yesterday's crash, just after midday, the car in which Ms Simmonds was a passenger and an oncoming vehicle collided on the rain-soaked road. The woman driver and a baby in her car suffered severe head injuries and were flown by helicopter to Auckland's Middlemore Hospital in critical condition. Mr Yazaki's wife, a family friend and three children were following in another car and were almost instantly on the scene. Senior Sergeant Rob Arnold, of Pukekohe police, said the crash could not have been a worse start to the festive season. He urged motorists to take care. He described the highway as "very unforgiving" if drivers ignored conditions. He urged they cut speed in the wet, increasing following distance and wore seatbelts. The crash closed the highway for several hours as emergency workers and police cleared the bodies and wreckage. Road safety authorities say the 7.2km bypass to improve the danger zone is not due to be completed for at least another four years.
