TOP STORY: First day, first crash

An old red chilly bin is upright in the middle of the road; a cellphone lies abandoned in the wet grass. "Don't touch it," a police officer says.
They're still searching the ditches either side of Pakowhai Road, worried they'll find more victims.
A man, heading toward Napier in a white flat-deck truck, was thrown from his vehicle; a woman, driving in the opposite direction, was conscious and talking as she was cut from her dark-blue car.
Sergeant Chris Quinn sighs, shakes his head and says both were "very seriously injured".
The young policeman conducting wide-eyed motorists away from the scene says, grimly, that it's his first day on the job.
The drivers were the only people involved in this latest crash, which happened on the Napier side of the Chesterhope Bridge at 8.50am. At 9.45, police were still interviewing distraught witnesses, but said the damage indicated that speed wasn't a factor.
The Bay's death toll this year stands at 35 and looks set to be the highest road toll in 13 years. (The toll of the wider region of Hawke's Bay and East Coast stands at 38).
St John Ambulance Service Hawke's Bay watch manager Stephen Smith said ambulance staff had not only attended a large number of fatal accidents but accidents where they had treated serious injuries.
They were monitoring staff who attended such horrific accidents.
"All these accidents are tragic, regardless of whether it's a young person or not," he said.
Senior sergeant Tony Dewhurst of Napier Police said attending repeated accidents was hard on staff who were extremely busy.
"It's very demoralising that these keep happening, given that we've had so many deaths."
The latest fatality was Raymond Howard Bradey, of Havelock North. Mr Bradey was found dead in his crashed car on Te Aute Road in Pakipaki at 7.45am on Saturday.
Police believe the 18-year-old, killed when his car left the road, may have fallen asleep while driving.
Mr Bradey, a student at Central Hawke's Bay College until the end of last term, had been working as a farm labourer in Central Hawke's Bay.
Hastings Senior Sergeant Mike O'Leary said it appeared Mr Bradey, the only person in the car, was returning to Havelock North when his 1986 Toyota Corolla crossed the centreline and drifted off the road before crashing into a ditch and hitting a culvert.
There was a possibility that the accident occurred as early as 9pm on Friday.
"We would like to hear from people out and about with Mr Bradey on Friday afternoon," he said.
There was no sign of braking, indicating Mr Bradey might have fallen asleep at the wheel. Mr Bradey was not wearing a seatbelt, Mr O'Leary said.
* Police have named the man killed when his car and a K and S Freighters truck collided on the Napier Taupo road, about 12.45pm on Friday, as Mohammed Nure Alam Chowdhury, 34, of Hastings.