Fa’aofo Uili Fa’aofo (right) and his nephews, Ta’avao Kelemete (middle) and Leauga Jerry Leauga (left), died in the Ramarama crash on August 26, 2024.
A crash that killed three men - devastating families in New Zealand and Samoa - could have been prevented if highway median barriers were up to current safety standards, a coroner has found.
Coroner Alison Mills also went a step further and recommended that road authorities urgently prioritise the replacement of all state highway network median barriers installed in the late 1990s, now dubbed legacy barriers.
Her report into the deaths of Leauga Jerry Leauga, 37, Fa’aofo Uili Fa’aofo, 45, and Ta’avao Kelemete, 32, was released publicly on Tuesday morning.
The three men, who were all related, were killed in the horrific crash on State Highway 1 between Bombay and Ramarama, Auckland, on August, 26, 2024.
Fa’aofo had travelled from Auckland earlier that day to pick up his nephews, Leauga Jerry, Ta’avao and Jerry’s younger brother, Lapi Toilolo Fanuasā, from the Bay of Plenty, where they worked as fruitpickers under the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme. The trio were due to go back home to Samoa that same week.
Two other workers hopped into Fa’aofo’s van too, as the young men were also due to fly back home. They were returning to Auckland when a truck travelling in the far southbound lane suffered a tyre blow-out and ploughed through the three-strand wire barrier that divided each side of the highway.
Multiple vehicles crashed in the ensuing chaos and the truck slammed into the side of the men’s van.
Three of the passengers in the van, Va’amailalo Sasi Neru, Luai Tavita and Lapi, survived the crash but were seriously hurt. Lapi, in his early 20s, suffered severe brain injuries and requires ongoing care.
Coroner Mills heard that witnesses had described seeing the truck “plough through the median barriers”.
“One witness commented that the barrier did not seem to slow the truck down at all,” the report said.
Speaking to the Herald three weeks after the crash, Neru had described the moment he saw the truck on the opposite side of the motorway suddenly swerve and crash into a vehicle, before slamming through a wire barrier, headed straight towards them.
“I thought the wires would stop them - or at least slow them down. But the truck rammed right through towards us.
“I closed my eyes when I saw the truck was about to hit us and I tried to do something to save myself, to brace myself.
“I felt the truck slam into us. Every part of my body - my head, my back - was slammed around.”
Mills said the serious crash unit investigator advised that, in his view, the older barriers should have been replaced with barriers with higher safety ratings, given the types of vehicles that use SH1.
After the crash, 630 metres of the legacy barriers were replaced with a flexible barrier system due to the damage caused by the collision.
A total of 5533 metres of the legacy barrier system remains, which the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi says receives maintenance when required.
Mills said it was highly likely that had the legacy barriers been replaced with the higher-performing modern barrier, the truck would have been prevented from crossing into the path of oncoming traffic.
She also acknowledged that in other cases, modern median barriers have successfully prevented heavy-laden trucks from crossing into oncoming traffic.
“It is evident that the barrier in place at the time of this crash did not.”
The report said Waka Kotahi advised that the replacement of the legacy barriers was taking a long time due to funding constraints.
“While I understand those constraints, if the median barriers had been of a higher safety standard, these deaths may have been prevented,” Mills said.
“I therefore recommend that Waka Kotahi NZTA urgently prioritise the replacement of all remaining legacy barrier systems on the state highway network.”
Waka Kotahi, in response to Mills, wanted her to amend the recommendations so that transport agency would instead audit the state of their barriers.
It also proposed to “programme the prioritised replacement of legacy barrier systems” with currently approved barriers taking into account location, specific risks and available funding.
Mills, however, said it was clear the legacy barrier systems were now inadequate in today’s environment, particularly with the increase in heavy vehicles using the state highways.
“Replacing them only when they are unable to be repaired and subject to funding, in my view, is not sufficient given the devastating consequences when they fail.
“I therefore confirm my recommendation that Waka Kotahi NZTA urgently prioritise the replacement of all remaining legacy barrier systems on the state highway network.”
One of the crash survivors, Luai Tavita, spoke to the Herald on the first anniversary of the crash last year.
He is back in New Zealand working in a vineyard in Blenheim under the RSE scheme again. He remembers his friends and knows how lucky he is.
“It’s a blessing - as if I’m meant to come back to continue working here, because my work is not done.”
He could not be reached for comment this week.
Vaimoana Mase is the Pasifika editor for the Herald’s Talanoa section, sharing stories from the Pacific community. She won junior reporter of the year at the then Qantas Media Awards in 2010 and won the best opinion writing award at the 2023 Voyager Media Awards.