A friend of a Canadian woman who died after a crash at a vandalised intersection has got a message for the people who damaged road signs and obliterated road markings by doing burnouts.
“The consequences of their stupidity and their immaturity are going to live on forever,” says Margareta Dovgal, who was a passenger in the car Helen Poon was driving when they crashed on December 30, 2023.
“I want the people who did what they did … to understand the consequences of messing with critical safety infrastructure.
“Anyone who thinks that, you know, pulling out traffic signs is a responsible thing to do, [should] understand that, no, it’s a matter of life or death.”
Poon and Dovgal were on a driving holiday in New Zealand in a borrowed Audi coupe when they approached the intersection of State Highway 50 and Maraekakaho Rd near Hastings.
Poon drove through the intersection without stopping and collided with a Toyota Landcruiser.
The 34-year-old local government politician from Port Albani in British Columbia died in Wellington Hospital five days later from the complications of blunt force trauma.
A findings report from Coroner Mark Wilton released today included photographs of damage caused to the intersection by “anti-social driving behaviour”.
A photograph taken on the day of the crash showed that road markings at the intersection were not visible.
A give way sign was missing and the other had been turned around to face the other way.
Chevron boards on a post opposite the T-junction had been removed.
Coroner Wilton said the damage to the intersection was a contributing factor to the collision.
“There was no clear indication, by way of signage or road markings from Ms Poon’s point of view, that she was required to give way,” he said in his findings.
Another photograph, taken after the intersection had been refurbished, provided what he called a “stark difference”.
It makes obvious the requirement to give way at that location.
Coroner Wilton said Poon’s death highlighted the consequences anti-social driving and burnouts can have.
“The damage caused to the road and the environment endangers the safety and lives of all New Zealand road users,” he said.
“I encourage those drivers to disengage from such driving behaviour and follow the road rules.”
The coroner said that people had continued to damage the intersection even after the collision.
He recommended that the New Zealand Transport Agency consider how to further deter anti-social driving, and arrange regular checks of the intersection to ensure the road markings remained visible.
Dovgal told NZME from her home in Canada that Poon was an example of how to be a responsible car enthusiast.
The coroner’s report said Poon had been driving since she was 16, had a collection of 15 vehicles and held the Canadian equivalent of a heavy truck licence.
“She was a responsible motorist. She was a car collector,” Dovgal said.
“She loved the experience of driving, the culture and the community around it, and she was an example of knowing how to be passionate about that hobby in a very responsible, very safe way,” she said.
“A beautiful woman lost her life, and she’s missed, and she was really, really loved by many people, and she would have gone on to do wonderful things.”
Dovgal was injured in the collision and said she had experienced flashbacks and post-traumatic stress since.
“It’s only recently that I’ve stopped having panic attacks when I’m in a car,” she said.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.