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New Zealand lorry driver charged after German cyclist's death

Tourist had warned of truck dangers days before being killed in January

A lorry driver in New Zealand has been charged with careless driving causing death after a German tourist was killed by a truck while on a cycling holiday in the country in January.

The victim, 19-year-old Mia Pusch, died after being hit by a truck on State Highway Three near Bulls just days after writing about the danger she felt from speeding lorry drivers on the country’s roads.

In her final post on her blog, she had said: "When one is a cyclist on New Zealand roads, one is not only torn from one's daydreams by diving-bombing magpies but is more often threatened by a more nasty species that really requires more attention: truck drivers."

The teenager, who came from Fulda, north-east of Frankfurt, had arrived in New Zealand in October last year as part of an extended solo cycling holiday through New Zealand.

The New Zealand Herald has now reported that a 65-year-old lorry driver from Whanganui, North Island, has been charged with careless driving causing death and will appear before Marton District Court next month.
 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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