90-year-old dead after Manawatu crash

An elderly woman died in hospital last night after a head-on collision between two cars in Manawatu yesterday.

Her death brought the weekend road toll to three.

The 90-year-old, who was driving a Peugeot, had turned onto State Highway 3 from Penny Rd, northwest of Palmerston North, then collided with a Porsche in the passing lane about 4pm, Central District police spokeswoman Kim Perks told NZPA.

The woman, from Palmerston North, died in hospital about 10.30pm. The other driver, a 45-year-old man from Palmerston North, was injured.

There was no one else in either car.

Police were notifying the woman's next of kin and could not yet release her name, Ms Perks said.

Police have named a teenager who died after a car crash west of Lake Taupo at the weekend.

He was 18-year-old Hayden Taylor Warena from Turangi.

It appeared Mr Warena lost control of the Japanese model sedan he was driving and veered into a ditch before colliding with the Kuratau Bridge on State Highway 41 about 11pm Saturday, Senior Sergeant Duncan McKenzie said.

He was the sole occupant of the car and no other vehicles were involved, he said.

Lomio Havili, 52, died early on Saturday morning in West Auckland after the taxi van he was driving and a car collided head-on .

The vehicles crashed at the corner of Universal Drive and Lincoln Road, Henderson, about 3am.

The two men in the sedan were taken to Auckland hospital with serious injuries, Sergeant Stu Kearns said.

Mr Havili was the only person in the taxi.

He and one of the other men had to be cut from the vehicles, police said.

Police were investigating the cause of the crashes.

- NZPA