A Coroner's ruled safer median barriers could have prevented three men dying in an Auckland crash
A Coroner's ruled safer median barriers could have prevented three men dying in an Auckland crash
3 March 2026
Seasonal Samoan workers Leauga Jerry Leauga , Fa'aofo Uili Fa'aofo , and Ta'avao Kelemete were killed when a truck blew its tyre and ploughed into their van through a barrier - on State Highway 1 in 2024.
The three men in their 30s and 40s were related, and returning to Auckland from fruit picking in Bay of Plenty .
Three others in the van were seriously injured.
Coroner Alison Mills says it's not sufficient to only replace old barriers when they can't be repaired or there's funding.
She's recommending NZTA urgently replace the remaining more than five and a half thousand metres of legacy barriers.
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