The Labour Day weekend official holiday road toll has increased to four deaths when vehicle rolled in the South Island town of Kurow. 

This fatal accident came just hours before before the official 2023 Labour Weekend period ended at 6am this morning. 

“One person has died after their vehicle rolled in Kurow, Waitaki, at around 9.30pm last night,” a police spokesperson said. 

The road remains closed this morning and diversions are in place while the Serious Crash Unit examine the scene. 

The official 2023 Labour Weekend period began at 4pm on Friday and ended this morning. 

The first death to be added to the road toll came when a pedestrian died after being struck by a vehicle in Waipapa, Northland. Inquiries into the circumstances of the accident, on Onekura Rd, are under way. 

On Saturday afternoon one person died in a single-vehicle accident on State Highway 26 between Te Aroha and Paeroa. 

Later that evening, around 6pm, a cyclist died in Waititi, Dunedin. 

Emergency services attended the accident on Mt Cargill Rd but the cyclist died at the scene. 

In 2022, five people died over Labour Weekend, with six deaths in 2021, eight in 2020, and two in 2019. 

Labour Weekend traffic is diverted through Waipū at 4.40pm on Friday evening after a crash on at the State Highway One/ Shoemaker Rd intersection closed the road,casing massive traffic tailbacks in both directions. 

The holiday weekend got off to a horror start after three died people in crashes on Friday as New Zealanders hit the roads to get away. These initial three deaths did not count towards the Labour Day weekend road toll as the crashes occurred before 4pm on Friday. 

These deaths included a motorcyclist who was injured in a crash in Taihape and later died, a person involved in a multi-vehicle smash in Northland at the intersection of SH1 and Shoemaker Rd at Waipū and a person involved in two-vehicle crash on SH3 between Maxwell Station and Pukerimu Rds near Pākaraka, Whanganui. 

The lowest Labour Day holiday weekend year for deaths and serious injuries was 2013 when one person died and 109 people were injured. 

The worst was 1983 when 13 people died and 248 were injured. 

Caitlan Johnston is a breaking news reporter based in Waikato. She joined the Herald in 2022.