Netball girl killed in mum's vehicle

Bryer Rose Greenwood. Photo / Supplied

A horror week on the roads continued at the weekend when a 12-year-old was killed on her way home from netball and another person died in a collision with two St John vehicles taking patients to hospital from a crash.

Kaukapakapa schoolgirl Bryer Rose Greenwood died on Saturday night in the Starship hospital after suffering traumatic brain injuries in a two-vehicle crash just north of Helensville in the morning.

About 4.35pm yesterday, a person was killed after a Mazda lost control and clipped the back of an ambulance before smashing head-on into a St John rapid-response car behind.

The accident happened on State Highway 41 between Turangi and Taumarunui.

The St John vehicles were transporting two badly injured patients to Taumarunui Hospital.

The female paramedic driving the rapid response vehicle was seriously hurt.

The driver of the Mazda died at the scene. A 48-year-old male front-seat passenger was airlifted to Waikato Hospital, and late last night he was reported to be in a critical condition.

The crew of the front St John vehicle were unhurt and the two patients from the earlier crash were transported on to Taumarunui Hospital.

The exact causes of the weekend's fatal accidents were unclear last night.

Bryer Greenwood and the Mazda driver were the seventh and eighth people to die on New Zealand roads since Wednesday.

Emergency service staff who attended the crash where Bryer was fatally injured described the crash scene on the Kaipara Coast Highway as chaotic.

Chief Fire Officer Ian Osborne of Helensville said Bryer's mother was driving when her car and an oncoming four-wheel-drive vehicle collided.

The passenger side of the car, where Bryer and her 8-year-old sister were sitting, smashed into the 4WD.

"The doors were pushed right in," Mr Osborne said.

"There was nowhere for the girls to have gone so they were really tangled in the metal."

Fire crews cut Bryer and her sister out of the wreckage and also had to take the roof off the four-wheel-drive to get out its driver, a pregnant woman.

She was not believed to have been injured.

Last night, Bryer's mother and sister remained in hospital in a stable condition.

Mr Osborne said the girls were wearing netball outfits and it appeared they were on their way home from playing.

Bryer attended Kaukapakapa School and principal Tony Westrupp said on Saturday that she had been wearing a school netball uniform. He declined to comment yesterday on the crash.

Board of trustees chairman Mike Armour said the school was working with Bryer's mother and "dealing with the issue".

He said measures were in place to help Bryer's classmates to cope with the news of her death, but he was not prepared to comment further.

Police are still investigating what caused the crash.

Bryer's family and friends paid tribute to her on Facebook last night, describing her as gorgeous, happy, joyful and friendly.

"So so sad. She was a beautiful child coming into her teens very soon," a relative wrote.

"This world is so cruel to some people."

A friend wrote: "She was so smart, happy every day, she always made you laugh.

"It didn't matter how sad you were, and above all she was a beautiful girl - my best friend."

The crashes follow five other fatal accidents since Wednesday.

On Thursday, three men died in two separate crashes, one in Nelson and the other just west of Hamilton where a car crossed the centre line on a corner and collided head-on with an oncoming ute.

On Wednesday, three people died in separate accidents.

One claimed the life of 83-year-old Alan Kappely when his scooter crashed into the back of a stationary police car.

It's suspected that Mr Kappely may have suffered a medical condition.

- additional reporting: Elizabeth Binning, NZPA