Devastated parents Sarb Mann and David McNeill, holding a photograph of 15-year-old Vaishali McNeill, who was killed when the vehicle she was driving was hit by a truck on State Highway 2 at Pongakawa. Photo / Andrew Warner
It has been two and a half years since Bay of Plenty teenager Vaishali McNeill died after a head-on crash as she drove home.
But the grief does not ease with time for the 15-year-old’s Pukehina parents, Sarb Mann and David McNeill.
“Losing a child is the hardest thing ever. Worst of all, she was my only child, and we will never get over losing Shali,” Mann said.
“No parent should ever have to bury their kid.”
As 2025 ends, the year’s road toll for Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty stands at five, and 33 for the wider Bay of Plenty.
While this is lower than in recent years, Mann believes harsher penalties for impaired drivers would help save more lives on New Zealand roads.
Rotorua truck driver Donald McGregor had methamphetamine and cannabis in his blood when he crossed the centreline and crashed into Vaishali’s car on State Highway 2 at Pongakawa on May 19, 2023.
McGregor was sentenced to 19 months in prison on January 10 after pleading guilty to two charges of careless use of a motor vehicle causing death with drugs in his blood.
He was disqualified from driving for two years, and Mann said McGregor was released from prison on October 20.
She said his time in prison was of “cold comfort” to her and her husband, David McNeill, and to Vaishali’s brother.
“He took my daughter’s innocent life while under the influence. He’s able to return to work and carry on with his life, while we are left with a lifetime of loss.”
She is calling on the Government to reform road safety laws and impose harsher penalties for drivers under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.
“Innocent lives are being taken on our roads, and the punishment rarely fits the crime.
“Our laws need to send a clear, uncompromising message that if people drive under the influence and kill someone, they should face a minimum of 10 years in prison and serve the full term.”
Mann said she also believed the Government needed to make companies liable when one of their drivers was caught driving impaired.
“They have a duty of care as well to ensure their drivers are not driving impaired.”
A memorial stands where Vaishali’s car came to rest after it was hit as she headed home, with her father following in the car behind.
Mann said Vaishali, who was booked to sit her driving test two weeks after the crash, was a proficient driver and believed she would have passed.
The family celebrated what would have been her 18th birthday on June 6 with family and friends at a cafe in Mount Maunganui.
Mann said Vaishali was constantly in their thoughts, and she and her husband’s plea to other drivers was “simple but powerful”.
“Don’t take drugs or drink and drive. One reckless decision can destroy entire families and communities.
“Our daughter can’t come back - but stronger laws could save others from the same fate and a lifetime of loss for their families.”
The Government recently started rolling out roadside drug-testing of drivers beginning with the Wellington police district on December 15, with a nationwide rollout expected in mid-2026.
A spokesman for Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said there were no current plans to increase penalties for drink-driving or driving while drug-impaired.
At five, the Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty police district’s road toll for 2025 is three fewer than in 2024 and 2023, and 10 fewer than 2022’s toll of 15 lives.
Western Bay of Plenty road policing manager, Senior Sergeant Wayne Hunter, said fatalities this year could have been far higher as some drivers continued taking “unnecessary risks”.
Hunter said the last fatality was on June 26, but there had been many near-misses since.
“I believe part of that is down to our increased enforcement of the most risky behaviours, but also thanks to our hard-working emergency response medical teams and our rescue helicopter crews.”
He said people needed to remember that road safety is “everyone’s responsibility”.
According to provisional Ministry of Transport data, there have been 33 deaths in 31 crashes in the wider Bay of Plenty police district as of December 31 this year.
This compares to 24 deaths in 2024.
More males (19) were killed than females (14), and three people were aged under 20.
Two motorcyclists and two pedestrians were among the dead, but no cyclists were killed.
The majority of the 31 fatal crashes (22) happened on roads with a speed limit of 100km/h, and one happened on a state highway with a 110km/h speed limit.
The roadside drug test screens for recent use of THC (cannabis), MDMA (ecstasy), cocaine and methamphetamine.
A positive result means a second test will be done on the spot and a saliva sample will be taken for lab testing.
If the second roadside test is also positive, the driver will be banned from driving for 12 hours. If it is negative, the driver can go, but their saliva sample will be sent to the lab for testing against 25 drugs.
If any of these drugs exceeds the threshold, an infringement notice will be issued to the driver.
A police spokesperson said the testing regime would scale up from April and operate nationwide from mid-2026.
The police target was to carry out 50,000 roadside tests a year.
“As we roll out drug driving testing across New Zealand, we will progressively test more drivers anywhere, at any time.”
Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.