12 dead as holiday road toll draws to a close

The Christmas holiday road toll rose by one at the weekend to stand at 12 last night.

The holiday period, which started at 4pm on Christmas Eve, ends at 6am today. Fourteen people were killed during the same period a year ago.

A front seat passenger died on Saturday when a car crashed into a power pole on State Highway 27 at Tatuanui, near Morrinsville. He was Christopher Kyle Watson, 36, of Te Puninga, north of Morrinsville.

The driver of the car is expected to appear in the Hamilton District Court today.

On Friday, Harry James Laurie, 15, of Waihi, died when a car went through a fence at Waihi, and Grant Justin White, 39, of Kaihu near Dargaville, died when he was thrown from his car.

A 26-year-old man who died when the 4WD in which he was a passenger crashed down a bank just north of the Takanini off ramp on Thursday has yet to be named.

Last Tuesday a 21-year-old man who has yet to be named died when a car ran off the road in south Westland.

Separate fatalities on December 29 included John Comper Smith, 74, of Wellington; Caroline Adele McCrae, 16, of Waikanae, and Li Xu, 31, of Mount Wellington, Auckland.

Napier woman Desiree Poutu, 39, died in Wellington Hospital after a crash on State Highway 2 south-west of Hastings on December 27; Jamie Karl Wells, 20, of Ruakaka in Northland, was killed when his car collided with another on State Highway 1 near Whangarei, and Tara Tran, 33, of Wellington, was killed in an accident south of Turangi.

On Christmas Day Guangcai Ye, 68, of Wellington, died in a crash north of Hamilton.

- NZPA