Fatal crash: Teen was speeding in convoy

File photo / NZ Herald

A teenager died near Greymouth while travelling at excessive speed in convoy with another car, the coroner has found -- although police found no evidence to prove they were racing.

Nadine Jane Lawton, 18, of Totara Flat, died in August 2012, in the early hours of a Sunday when her car crashed off the road near Ngahere. She was the sole occupant.

She was driving her 1997 Mazda 232 Astina hatchback at speed, 3.7km north of Ngahere township. She lost control and it spun off the road and into a ditch before flipping, throwing her from the vehicle. She died at the scene.

Her blood-alcohol level was 146mg; the legal blood-alcohol limit for a driver under-20 was 30mg.

About 8 o'clock the night she died, Ms Lawton visited a friend in Cobden where they consumed "a couple of vodka and oranges" before walking into Greymouth about 10 o'clock. They both left the Railway Hotel about 3am and were dropped off at a friend's house about 4am.

Ms Lawton had arranged to stay at the female friend's address but then decided to return to her home in Totara Flat.

A male friend was driving his Ford Courier utility and left to drive along the same route to his home in the Ikamatua area.

About 4.20am, a Ngahere resident was heading to work when he heard two cars driving along State highway 7, Ngahere, towards Dredge Road. He said they were going "like the clappers" and "nose to tail".

The witness could only describe the first vehicle as a "lowered silver-grey single cab ute" and could not describe the second car.

Senior constable Stephen Burbery told the inquest light rain had been falling on the wet and unlit sealed rural road. The car was travelling between 135kph and 141kph.

Examination of the vehicle interior suggested the crash may have been survivable had Ms Lawton been adequately restrained by a seatbelt.

Her ability to control the vehicle after things started to go wrong was greatly reduced by the state of both left-hand tyres, which had insufficient tread depth to cope with the wet road conditions.

The male friend was charged with being "party to exhibition of speed or acceleration causing death".

Police later withdrew the charge as there was not enough evidence to prove they were racing.

Regional coroner Richard McElrea said he was satisfied the vehicles the witness saw had belonged to the victim and her male friend, and that the pair were travelling "in convoy".