Driver dies in Ruakaka crash

TRAGEDY: A man died when this vehicle crashed on State Highway 1, near Ruakaka, yesterday afternoon. PHOTO/MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM

Northland toll now 10

A man died at the scene after his northbound vehicle rolled several times and came to rest on the opposite side of State Highway 1, near Ruakaka.

No other vehicles were involved in the crash, at 3.35pm yesterday.

The Toyota Surf had spun across the road, rolled a number of times and landed on its roof on the opposite shoulder, Whangarei police acting Sergeant Mike Greenwood said.

At edition time last night, police did not know who the single occupant was or how old he was. He was not the registered owner of the car.

As darkness fell, a local kaumatua blessed the scene before the body was removed from the wreckage. Police, including a Serious Crash Unit officer, then began piecing together the clues that might explain what happened in the moments before the man died.

Other police officers would later sift through the vehicle and personal effects strewn at the crash site to try to identify the man.

The section of SH1 between the Marsden Highway roundabout and Marsden Point Rd was closed until 8.30pm. Traffic was diverted down the Marsden Highway and out through Ruakaka.

The death brings the road toll for Northland so far this year to 10.

Northland's road toll for 2014 was 19 deaths from 16 crashes. The previous year there were 21 road deaths.

Yesterday's fatality was the first in the region since a man in his 40s died, following a crash in Mangawhai on Monday, June 1, Queen's Birthday weekend. However, that death was not included in the Northland statistics as the location where it occurred was inside the greater Auckland district.

The fatal accident came after a 24-hour period where several crashes in Northland kept emergency services busy but in which no one was seriously injured.