Nineteen people died on our roads over the Christmas-New Year holiday period, which officially ended early today.
A fatal crash in Northland last night took the total number of deaths to 19.
Emergency services were called to the single-vehicle collision at the intersection of Waimā Valley Rd and Pūhā Rd about 6.20pm.
Police said the driver died in hospital a short time later.
The circumstances are not yet known and the Serious Crash Unit is investigating.
The official Christmas-New Year holiday road toll period started at 4pm on December 22. It finished this morning at 6am.
The number of people killed this holiday period is down from last year, when 21 people died during that same period.
Information from the Ministry of Transport shows of those killed on our roads this holiday period, nine people were drivers and nine were passengers. One victim died in a motorcycle crash.
The majority of the victims were male (13) and six female. The majority of the fatalities were in Waikato, where seven people were killed.
Two people died in crashes yesterday - the first in a crash reported shortly before 3.30am on State Highway 25 near Russek Rd, south of Keretā, on the Coromandel Peninsula.
A section of the highway had to be closed for several hours as authorities worked at the scene.
Just after 2pm, emergency services were called to a crash involving a motorcyclist on Tainui Rd in Tauhei, Waikato.
First responders worked to save the rider, but they were pronounced dead at the scene.
Police have started to release the names of those killed on roads over the holiday road toll period.
They include 27-year-old Brayden Tawa, of Pāpāmoa, Louise Quinn, of Hamilton, and 22-year-old Wenxuan Li, of Auckland.
Tawa was a passenger in a vehicle that was involved in a crash with a truck in Mt Maunganui two days after Christmas. He had been riding in the front seat at the time.
The driver of the vehicle and another passenger survived with minor injuries.
Quinn died in a quad bike accident in Marokopa on the same day, after witnesses in the rural Waikato community reported seeing someone come off a quad bike.
Emergency services were called to Rauparaha St just before 5pm that day and confirmed a woman had died.
Li was killed in a serious crash on Saturday, December 23. Police are still investigating the circumstances.
What is thought to be the youngest of the holiday road toll victims are two children killed in a utility terrain vehicle accident in the Far North on Friday, December 29.
The bodies of a 4-year-old child, from Auckland, and their 6-year-old cousin visiting from Perth were recovered from a swimming hole, after the vehicle rolled into it.
The children were among six people who were on the vehicle at the time.
Two road deaths were reported in Christchurch and Te Puru, in the lead-up to New Year’s Eve, and two other people died in a crash between a car and petrol tanker west of Kaimai Summit on December 28.
Other fatal crashes were reported on Boxing Day in Prebbleton - southwest of Christchurch - and on the morning of Christmas Day. Another person died in a crash in Whangārei.
Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you
