Speed and alcohol add to road toll
Speed, alcohol and seatbelts all played a role in the first fatal crash over the long Easter weekend, police say.
The vehicle was heading south on Hakarimata Rd near Huntly around 8.30pm on Sunday when the driver lost control rounding a bend.
It left the road and ploughed through a fence, killing the frontseat passenger.
The death marked the first fatality on the roads this long weekend but another person was killed yesterday and there have been several serious crashes across the country.
In the latest fatal crash, one person was trapped and killed following a two-car crash at the Awakino Gorge tunnel.
Emergency services were called to the scene on State Highway 3, north of New Plymouth at 12.25pm yesterday.
Earlier in the morning, a fleeing driver avoided road spikes then crashed into a police car which then careened into a house in Invercargill badly damaging it, police said. No-one was seriously injured in the incident and the male driver of the fleeing vehicle was arrested at the scene.
About 8.30am, a man lost control of his car on a westbound bend on State Highway 6 on the Serpentine Straight in the Whangamoa area, between Blenheim and Nelson.
Marlborough highway patrol team leader Barrie Greenall said the car had struck a bank and rolled onto its roof, blocking the Nelson-bound lane on a blind corner, between Kokorua and Opouri roads.
On Sunday afternoon, two people were taken to Waikato Hospital, one in a serious condition and the other in a moderate condition, after a two-vehicle crash in Tamahere near Hamilton.
Earlier that day, around 11.25am, two people were hurt, one critically, after a crash on State Highway 57, south of Shannon.
Last year, seven people died over Easter weekend, and 45 more were seriously injured – it was the highest Easter weekend road toll since 2010, when 12 died.
Waikato road policing manager Inspector Marcus Lynam said the fatal crash near Huntly happened at a bend where motorists were recommended to drive at 65kmh. Emergency services were called to the crash site, near the intersection with Riverside Way, at 8.35pm.
There were only two people in the vehicle at the time. The passenger died at the scene, while the driver sustained minor injuries.
‘‘At this stage, initial findings are that speed, alcohol, and seatbelts were all factors involved in the crash,’’ he said.
‘‘If any one of those factors was not present, then it may have been a completely different situation and that person may still have been with us today.’’
Lynam said the crash was being investigated by the serious crash unit.