Only one road death nationally

A motorcyclist killed in Taranaki was the only fatality on New Zealand’s roads during the long weekend.

The single fatality for the holiday period, which started at 4pm on Friday and ended at 6am yesterday, equals the previous lowest number of deaths, which was recorded in 2013.

It is the lowest since records for holiday periods began in 1956 and eclipses the previous low of two in 1977.

While the solitary death, which is being investigated by the police Serious Crash Unit, is a vast reduction on the country’s highest Labour weekend road toll recorded in 1978 when 16 were killed, police say it’s still too high.

Police have not yet released the name of the motorcyclist who was killed in a collision with a car on Wiremu Rd, Te Kiri, at 2.25pm on Sunday. It was one of three crashes involving cars and motorcycles within a 24-hour period in the region.

Sergeant Pat Duffy, of the Central District highway patrol, said he hoped the trend of reducing road trauma would continue. ‘‘Although one is still disappointing, previous long weekends have been worse.’’

In 2018 there were five deaths, in four crashes, and 130 reported injury crashes which resulted in

44 serious injuries and 155 minor injuries. Six people were killed in

2017 with another 23 suffering serious injuries and 103 receiving minor injuries, while in 2016 there were three deaths and 94 injury crashes, Ministry of Transport statistics show.