Crashes resume as holiday ends

A five-vehicle crash closed the Southern Motorway. Photo / Greg Bowker

Barely a day after the official end of a Queen's Birthday weekend with the lowest road toll in 54 years, two people - one a 3-year-old boy - are dead after crashes at opposite ends of the country.

The boy was killed when a tourist bus and two other vehicles were involved in a three-vehicle pile-up on State Highway 10, near Kaeo, in Northland.

It was just one of three accidents that happened within 15 minutes of each other yesterday afternoon.

The first, where a person was killed, happened on the Rakaia Bridge in Canterbury at around 4:40. The second in Kaeo, where the boy died, happened at around 4:45 and five vehicles were involved in a pile-up on the Southern Motorway at 4:55.

In Kaeo, early police reports suggested a car had crossed on to the wrong side of the road while trying to avoid vehicles at the scene of an earlier crash, before colliding with a tourist bus coming towards it.

Police said the boy had been in a car seat and that neither speed nor alcohol were factors in the crash.

Two people were flown to hospital in Whangarei. The boy died at the scene.

Meanwhile, another person was killed in Canterbury in what police have called a "horrific" crash.

No details were available of the person who died.

"All I can tell you is that it was horrific," said Inspector Paul Fremaux of police southern communications.

The crash happened on Rakaia Bridge, on State Highway 1, about 30km northeast of Ashburton. It involved a truck and trailer unit carrying two tractors, a car and a ute. The truck plunged into the Rakaia River.

Shortly before 9pm police said one lane on the Rakaia Bridge was opened, but a new bridge barrier had to be put in place at the crash site. The bridge will be temporarily closed from 10.30am this morning.

The crash on the Southern Motorway included two trucks, a ute, a 4-wheel-drive and a small car. A man and a woman, from different vehicles, were taken to Middlemore Hospital with serious injuries.

Counties Manukau road policing manager Heather Wells said it was disappointing the accidents came after the record low road toll. "One would hope that it's not complacency. The message is that these crashes aren't going to go away until people start driving carefully and considerately."

Ms Wells said the road safety message had stuck well with drivers over the Queen's Birthday weekend and strongly encouraged motorists to keep that up.

The deaths come as a brutal southerly sweeps across the country, dumping snow and sending the mercury plummeting.

Emergency services had an anxious night on Monday as the southerly brought snow to the central North Island.

Central District Highway Patrol Sergeant Graeme Rumble said staff were monitoring the Desert Rd overnight as further snow was expected to turn the roads icy.

The road closed yesterday morning after snow clearing machinery could not keep up with the 10cm to 15cm dump that fell overnight. It had reopened by midday but was closed again last night.

Poor visibility caused two stock trucks to collide 10km north of Waiouru just after 5am yesterday morning. There were no injuries.

The Rimutaka Hill Road, north of Wellington, was also closed briefly on Monday night, but was reopened about 7pm yesterday. Police were warning motorists to take extreme care.

Warnings were also issued for the Napier-Taupo road, Stewart Island, Otago, Nelson and central South Island, where ice or snow was expected.

Weather analyst Philip Duncan described the chilly conditions as the "first real southerly of the year".

He predicted roads may be icy this morning after a frigid night around the country.

Queenstown was set to plummet to minus 8C overnight.

MetService forecaster John Tunster said the strong cold snap should pass by this afternoon.

Auckland and Northland can expect sunny weather today although wet and cloudy conditions are forecast until early next week. The rest of the North Island can expect light rain.

- ADDITIONAL REPORTING: NZPA