It was by pure chance that Anthony Odering was driving along Stafford St when a poor decision by a fellow driver led to a teenager losing her life.
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He was heading home from work in his ute at 2.15am when a car failed to give way at Dunedin’s Hope St intersection, ploughing into him.
"I remember being up on two wheels and thinking ‘Oh, this isn’t going to end good’," he said.
It didn’t.
Lifeless in the wreckage of the other vehicle was Nakita May Strange, an 18-year-old from Invercargill.
Mr Odering ran to the other car to help those inside. After failing to find a pulse on Nakita, who was sitting in the back seat, he climbed into the car to try to help her.
But she had already died.
"I’m a father, and I knew if it was my daughter there I would want to say goodbye to her.
"Which is what I did, on behalf of the family — I gave her a kiss on the cheek and wished her Godspeed.
"That stays with me."
He was also injured, and carries a crick in his neck that will never go away.
He called it a reminder that life is fragile — but still considered himself lucky.
He still travels through the intersection, saying he refuses to live in fear.
But, he said, it was a poignant reminder.
"I don’t hold any resentment against the driver. He made his own set of choices and he had to live with the consequences of that."
That driver was Shay Robert Richards, who in February 2017 was sentenced to three years and three months’ imprisonment after admitting a charge of reckless driving causing the death of Miss Strange, and three of causing injury to other passengers in the car.
He was released on parole in mid-2019.
Among his release conditions was a ban from entering Southland, after Miss Strange’s family told the Parole Board they did not want him near Invercargill.
Mr Odering said the court process was tough.
"I hadn’t really understood I had so much emotion left. I did a victim impact statement and I did it through broken tears."
He has also kept in touch with Miss Strange’s family. Each Christmas he buys a wreath in remembrance of her, and the fact that her family will not be seeing their daughter for the holidays.
His outlook on life was that death was simply part of it, and that had helped him cope in the aftermath of the crash.
But he was also a father, and since the crash he always told his children to travel safe before they headed out the door.
"What that experience taught me was things happen in an instant."
In November 2018, he was awarded a District Commander’s Commendation from Southern district commander Superintendent Paul Basham for his actions immediately after the crash.
He rejects the term hero, saying the world does not need any more of those.
"What we need is for people to be safe."
He and his brothers are truck drivers, and he said he often saw poor driving behaviour.
"We don’t want people to see what I had to see, we don’t want people to have to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
"It’s a bit of mindfulness when driving."
The Otago Daily Times has launched a three part series, Not Coming Home, which examines the South's horror road toll. This year Otago has had the highest number of road fatalities since 2007 and 11 lives have been lost in Southland. As people around the South hit the road over the holidays, there is a simple message - keep alert and get home safely.
On Monday police reporter Daisy Hudson will report on the officers who deal with death on our roads and the toll it takes on them. On Tuesday she will explore the long, painful and traumatic aftermath of serious crashes and talk to Dunedin medical staff, as well as a brave woman whose head injury 30 years ago forever changed her life.
