KEY POINTS:
A teenager killed while car surfing had just been to the funeral of a schoolmate who died in a horrific car crash.
On Wednesday, Chase Dix, 17, of Huntly, attended the funeral of Chad Arnold, 15, killed in a car accident near Morrinsville just five days earlier.
But
three hours after a resounding haka farewelled Arnold, Dix went car surfing on Onslow Rd, where the funeral of Amy Gardiner, 22, also killed in the Morrinsville crash, had just finished. He was riding on the boot of a car but fell on to the road.
When the ambulance arrived, he was bleeding profusely from his head. He was rushed to Waikato Hospital but died on Friday.
There have now been three car crash deaths of people aged under 23 in the past week in Huntly. Two - Arnold and Dix - attended Te Kauwhata College.
Last Saturday, Gardiner and Arnold were killed when a Nissan Sentra driven by Gardiner's boyfriend, Jesse Kennerley-Williams, 16, crashed into Nissan Pathfinder near Morrinsville.
Kennerley-Williams had a learner licence. Zach Fletcher, 16, was also injured, suffering a ruptured spleen, concussion and facial injuries. He has to take strong painkillers and antibiotics as part of his recovery.
Yesterday Fletcher told the Herald on Sunday he was distraught at losing his best mate Arnold, who he called "Chadalac".
Fletcher's mother, Kylie, said the two boys were as thick as thieves, playing rugby and soccer together and always going to the same parties. Last year they went as each other's dates to the school ball.
Fletcher can remember nothing from the crash, which happened as the four headed to Kennerley-Williams' place in Waihi.
The last thing he recalls is the four young people talking with the music up loud. Dangerous by the Ying Yang Twins was playing.
"Amy was saying how much she loved that song. The next thing I remember is waking up in hospital."
Fletcher said he kept asking after Arnold, but no one would answer his questions. His father Steve said the hospital staff told him not to tell his son his mate was dead. But Fletcher figured out what had happened.
"I knew because they wouldn't tell me anything," he said. "I knew something was wrong."
Fletcher was allowed out of the hospital to attend his friend's funeral but had to return afterwards.
"It was good to see him and to say goodbye," he said.
Losing his best friend has proved harder for Fletcher to handle than the physical injuries of the crash.
"I always think about him - all the stuff I'm going to miss without him around. It just doesn't seem real."
The two friends were due to play in the final of their seven-a-side soccer tournament last Saturday. They had big plans for the $500 bar tab the victorious side would win, but he doesn't know how his team fared.
"I'm sure we would have won if Chad and I were playing," he said.
Police are considering laying charges against Kennerley-Williams for driving with passengers while holding a learner licence.
But Fletcher said there wasn't anything wrong with the driving, and there had been no drugs or alcohol involved. "We weren't being stupid in the car. It was just an accident."
The Arnold and Fletcher families were good friends, and Steve Fletcher worked with Arnold's father Barry. On Friday, the two were told to go to the office, and Steve Fletcher immediately feared the worst.
"I got up thinking the worst. But Barry said 'Don't worry, it's probably just the kids down there at the office and they've been up to something'. But we got there and there were two cops, and I knew it was bad."
Steve Fletcher said he was overwhelmed by the news. "It was relief but despair for Barry at the same time. They're just shattered."
The crash raises serious questions about learner driver licences.
Two weeks ago, the Herald on Sunday reported that police traffic chiefs were calling for a radical overhaul of the licence system after a string of crashes involving novice drivers in the past year.
Last year alone, 71,646 learner drivers nationwide were issued with infringement notices - more than 200 every day.
Transport Safety Minister Harry Duynhoven has floated the idea of putting a time limit on how long a driver can hold a restricted licence and making people who commit offences go back to the start of their restricted period.
"There has to be some change," he said this week.
Ministry of Transport officials are investigating changes to the penalties for driving offences, including tougher demerit point penalties, which are considered more of a deterrent than fines.
However, Cabinet papers state that raising the driving age is not an option being considered by officials.
