Road toll already exceeds last year

2015 has had more fatal crashes than 2014

A crash that killed one person and seriously injured two others over the weekend has seen Northland's road death toll surpass last year's total.

Yesterday's fatality has pushed the region's road toll to 20 compared with 19 for the whole of last year.

Emergency services were called to a metal road just outside Kaitaia yesterday morning after a four-wheel-drive ute went off the road and crashed about 150 metres down a bank and into a paddock.

The crash happened about 9.40am on Duncan Rd, about 20km north-east of Kaitaia.

There were three occupants in the vehicle which went off the road at a corner and one, believed to be the driver, died at the scene.

St John acting district operations manager Mark Going said a helicopter flew one man in his 60s to Whangarei Hospital in a critical condition while paramedics transported another man in his 30s to the Kaitaia Hospital. His condition was assessed as serious.

One ambulance from Kaitaia and another from Doubtless Bay were called to the scene.

Kaitaia fire chief Colin Kitchen said the weather was fine but the road was slippery at the time the crash happened.

Firefighters initially dropped a line down the bank to access the crashed ute but later found a track which they used to get to the scene, he said.

Police Serious Crash Unit investigator Senior Constable Jim Hawthorn was at the scene yesterday.

The death has pushed Northland's road death toll to 20. The last fatality before yesterday involved a woman in her 60s who died after a two-car smash on State Highway 1 near Whakapara on November 24. November has been the deadliest month on Northland's roads so far this year with four fatalities in less than a month.

A 64-year-old English tourist was the first to die on Northland roads last month after the car he was driving smashed head-on with another vehicle near Oakleigh, south of Whangarei, on November 4.

On November 12, another man died after his car and a truck transporting a house collided on State Highway 10 about 18km south of Kerikeri. The 52-year-old from Kerikeri, the car's sole occupant, died at the scene. Two weeks later, a man died after losing control of the car he was driving on State Highway 10 near Kaeo.-Call for action, page 24