Aucklander the last of 380 to die on Kiwi roads in 2018

Police have named the 41-year-old man who died in a crash on Monday on the Coromandel Peninsula as Mickey Tarahuirangi Albert from Auckland.

Albert died in the crash at 11.17pm on Monday after his vehicle left Port Jackson Rd, near Colville, and fell 10 metres on to rocks.

A boy also suffered critical injuries in the crash and was flown to Starship children’s hospital by Auckland Rescue Helicopter. His condition was later updated as stable. Two other passengers were also seriously injured and in hospital.

Albert’s death has been referred to the coroner, and a police investigation of the crash is ongoing.

The death was also the last New Zealand road fatality for 2018, bringing the total to 380. It was the worst annual road toll since 2009 when 384 people lost their lives.

Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter described the toll last year as “a staggering and unnecessary loss of life — equivalent in scale to a major airline crash”.

“The Government is investing $1.4 billion over three years to make urgent safety improvements across our high-risk roads,” Genter said.

The Coromandel crash name announcement came as the holiday road toll rose to nine yesterday, after a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle and killed on a Southland highway in the early hours of yesterday.

Emergency services were called to the scene on the Waimea Highway near Gore about 12.30am.

Police are asking members of the public to advise if they saw a male in his late teens walking along Waimea Valley Rd between 7pm on New Year’s Day and 12.30am yesterday.

Anyone with information can contact Gore Police Station on 03 203 9323.