Teen killed in quad bike crash weeks after friend's death

Harmony Wihongi, left, was killed in a car accident at Labour weekend and her friend Renee McNelis, right, died yesterday when her quad bike rolled. Photo / Supplied

A Westport teenager has been killed in a quad bike accident only a fortnight after her best friend died in a car crash.

Renee Tori McNelis, 17, was found dead around 2.30pm yesterday. She was pinned beneath a quad bike on a remote part of the Landcorp farm where she worked, at Cape Foulwind, 16km southwest of Westport.

At Labour Weekend her best friend Harmony Wihongi, 16, was killed when the utility vehicle in which she was a passenger crashed on State Highway 67, north of Westport.

Westport police Sergeant Sean Judd said Ms McNelis had been towing a trailer of fertiliser on rolling hill country when the bike tipped. The accident could have happened anytime between 11am and when she was found by, he understood, the farm manager.

"Once she was found there was nothing they could do for her."

Ms McNelis had a helmet with her but Mr Judd was unsure if she had been wearing it.

He wasn't sure how much experience the 17-year-old would have had driving a farm bike.

The death had been referred to the coroner and the Department of Labour will be investigating.

Westport Landcorp farm manager Paul Hateley said it was "the end of the world", when something like this happened, but they had to carry on.

"She was a good young person and a good worker. We're all pretty sad about what's happened," he said.

Ms McNelis had been working there since early in the season last year. Staff were being counselled, Mr Hateley said.

Landcorp had good safety policies and good training in place, and he would await the coroner's report to find out exactly how the accident happened, he said.

It was the second farm bike accident in as many days involving a young person.

On Sunday, a 22-year-old Taranaki woman was critically injured after a farm bike crash.

The two accidents happened only days after the Department of Labour launched a quad bike safety campaign at the Mystery Creek Events Centre in Waikato.

The campaign emphasises safety training and experience for farm bike users, wearing a helmet and choosing the right vehicle for the job.

Federated Farmers Waikato provincial president Stew Wadey told the Westport News quad bikes were ubiquitous on New Zealand farms. However, they were inherently unstable and required skill, knowledge, and concentration to handle, especially on uneven terrain.

They were also deceptively heavy. If one was placed on top of a rugby prop he would not be able to free himself, Mr Wadey said.

"When a quad bike starts to roll, nine times out of 10, you get compression damage to the chest, or a straight broken neck", he said.

However, the bikes were such a useful tool, and appeared so innocuous, that "farmers have taken to them like ducks to water".

"Farmers have got to take control of safety on farms through safety education. If not the Department of Labour will take control of them through enforcement. If that doesn't work they will bring in regulations."

Mr Wadey said the deparment planned to begin enforcing training and safety regulations with fines.

He said one farm employer had been fined $60,000 for not following safety rules.

The department was also exploring the idea of carrying locator beacons on remote farm areas and trialling a roll-over warning system used on some American quad bikes.

Department figures show that on average five people were killed and 850 injured every year riding quad bikes on farms.

- NZPA