Alcohol link in road fatalities

Alcohol is believed to have been a factor in two of the three road deaths at the weekend.

On Friday night a 15-year-old Te Aroha boy was killed and a 47-year-old person hurt when a car failed to take a bend on SH24 near Matamata and crashed into an oncoming vehicle.

A 32-year-old driver faces alcohol-related charges.

Early on Saturday a man died and four people were hurt in a two-car crash in Yaldhurst, Christchurch, which police said also involved alcohol.

That night in nearby Papanui, the passenger of a car that crashed into a power pole died.