DRIVER ON DRUGS BEFORE DEATH CRASH INTO RIVER

A man was high on drugs when he drove into Nelson's Maitai River
killing himself, crash survivors told an inquest yesterday.

The four passengers said that Nigel George Palmer appeared vacant and
unresponsible after taking cannabis and herbal highs.

Coroner Ian Smith reached an interim decision that Mr Palmer, 20 from
Wakefield near Nelson, drowned after missing the approach to the
bridge and plunging into the flooded river.

Stacey Jay Bint, 20, told how he and Mr Palmer had been out all night
before the accident and had both taken BZP capsules, known as legal
highs.

Mr Palmer had only had about one hour's sleep and the pair shared a
cannabis cigarette on the morning of the accident, he said.

That night they picked up the three girls and bought two boxes of
nitrous oxide canisters from a dairy, before heading to the Maitai.

Kirstyn Adele Williams, 18, who was in the back seat, said Mr Palmer
used one of the canisters but it did not seem to affect his driving.

Passenger Emma Maree Henderson, 17, said the group also took the
nitrous oxide after which Mr Palmer was silent.

"He had both hands on the wheel. We were all asking him where he was
going and telling him to turn into the Maitai road but he didn't.
Stacey and Nikita were actually shaking Nigel but he didn't respond at
all," Miss Henderson told the court.

"The next thing we were flying through the air."

Miss Williams said Mr Palmer went stiff and quiet as the car
approached the bridge.

"I said to him, 'turn left', but he just gripped the wheel and drove
straight ahead into the bank," she said.

"I woke up in the water and was pulled up out of the
car."

The passengers all said the car was not going too fast and estimated
the speed at between 60kph and 70kph.

The car landed driver's side down and Mr Bint, who was the front
passenger, was the first out. He started helping the others before the
car began tumbling in the rapid current.

Forensic toxicologist Helen Poulsen said it was most likely Mr Palmer
smoked cannabis within four hours of the accident.

It was impossible to test for nitrous oxide because it left the
bloodstream so quickly, but Ms Poulsen said it acted as a central
nervous system depressant, inducing a minute or less of euphoria when
taken in small doses.

Nitrous oxide, or "laughing gas" is legally classified as both a
prescription medicine and a food product used as a propellant for
whipping cream. A packet of 10 canisters costs about $12.

Mr Smith said the passengers were lucky to be alive. He said he would
be releasing a formal report, looking at the wider issues surrounding
the accident.