Coroner Ruth Thomas said the resident saw Steile\u2019s car cross the lane and correct, before he went out of sight.<\/p>\n
Moments later, the resident heard a big bang.<\/p>\n
The teen, a champion boxer and talented cricketer who was just a week out from sitting his restricted licence test, had lost control on a corner, and collided with an Isuzu truck.<\/p>\n
Emergency services arrived at 4.34pm, CPR was carried out, but Steile could not be revived and was pronounced dead at the scene.<\/p>\n
The driver of the Isuzu later said, \u201cI thought the car was involved in a police chase because it looked to be driving around 100km an hour \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The Serious Crash Unit analyst said it was likely Steile left the carriageway slightly, and then provided \u201cexcessive steering input to his right\u201d to return to the seal. <\/p>\n
The car then rotated in a clockwise direction from the northbound lane into the southbound lane, and the Isuzu collided with the passenger side of the Honda.<\/p>\n
The analyst\u2019s speed calculations, taken from the curving tyre marks before the point of impact, estimated Steile was travelling between 96km\/h to 128km\/h.<\/p>\n
\u2018Very confident in his driving ability\u2019<\/p>\n
Steile lived at home with his mother and brother. . He worked with a scaffolding company and did charity work.<\/p>\n
Friends described him on a Givealittle page after his death as a \u201c once-in-a-generation young man, an incredibly gifted soul who touched everyone he met\u201d. <\/p>\n
Along with being a champion boxer and talented cricketer he was a \u201csharp thinker, a chess lover, and a natural entrepreneur\u201d who started college-level study a year early.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe dreamed big, walked to the beat of his own drum, and often said he\u2019d be a millionaire one day, and with his mind, he truly would have been.\u201d<\/p>\n
His mother told the coroner he was also a confident driver.<\/p>\n
She recalled him revving the gears when her son took her for a drive on the backroads of Levin. <\/p>\n
She said he was not speeding but \u201che was very confident in his driving ability\u201d.<\/p>\n
She also said she had made her son promise that he would only drive his car with a fully licenced passenger.<\/p>\n
Steile Veenendaal was a champion boxer, and just a week out from sitting his restricted licence test when he was died in a road accident.<\/p>\n
Coroner Thomas noted that at the time of the crash, Steile was not complying with the condition of his learner licence, which required him to have a fully licensed driver with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am satisfied it is more likely than not Mr Veenendaal was travelling above the 60km\/h speed limit and his speed contributed to how his vehicle entered the verge on the curve, which then led to the excessive steering input, rotation and collision,\u201d Coroner Thomas said.<\/p>\n
She found Steile died on July 18, 2025, at Waitohu Valley Rd from multiple injuries suffered in the crash.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr Veenendaal\u2019s death is a tragic reminder of what lessons can be learned from this devastating, yet preventable accident,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) clearly detailed the conditions of a learner licence and has produced safety campaigns targeting speed as one of the leading contributors to deaths and serious injuries.<\/p>\n
She noted that young drivers are more at risk of a serious crash in the first six to 12 months of driving solo than at any other time in their lives.<\/p>\n
Research from 2024 shows, \u201cNew Zealand\u2019s young drivers have the highest rates of road deaths in the OECD. These rates are substantially above older age groups in New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the NZTA \u201cTame your speed demon\u201d campaign was targeted at males 18-25 years old, and aimed to change the acceptability of speeding with young drivers to resist pressures like tailgaters, being spurred on by friends, and the fear of running late.<\/p>\n
Coroner Thomas said for learner drivers to be safe, they should only drive with a supervisor.<\/p>\n
She reminded New Zealand road-users that \u201cspeeding is one of the deadliest issues on New Zealand roads\u201d; \u201cdriving to the speed limit is driving your own drive\u201d, and \u201cdon\u2019t let anyone rush you\u201d.<\/p>\n
Coroner Thomas concluded by expressing her sincere condolences to Steile\u2019s family and friends for the \u201csudden loss of their much-loved son, brother, family member and friend\u201d.<\/p>\n
Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at Newstalk ZB.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coroner Ruth Thomas said the resident saw Steile\u2019s car cross the lane and correct, before he went out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[18431,1081,12629,634,38471,11424,111,43,139,69,79703,234326,234327,6736,9184],"class_list":["post-462229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-16yearold","tag-accident","tag-coroner","tag-death","tag-devastating","tag-finds","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-preventable","tag-steile","tag-veenendaals","tag-was","tag-yet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}