KEY POINTS:
A truck driver died after being thrown from his vehicle when it crashed today on State Highway 1 near Taupo.
Police say Maurice Toto, 45 of Otara, was travelling south about 3km north of Wairakei when he lost control of his truck on a moderate bend about 7am.
The truck crossed into the opposite lane, on to the grass and came to rest on its roof.
Mr Toto was thrown from the truck and died at the scene.
SH1 had to be closed for about three hours while crash investigators carried out a scene examination, which is yet to determine the cause of the accident.
The crash happened an hour after the end of the official Easter holiday period, when four people died on New Zealand's roads.
On Sunday morning, a pedestrian died after being hit by a car in the Northland township of Waima.
The incident happened on State Highway 12, 28km southwest of Kaikohe, just before 10am.
Police have yet to release the victim's name, or that of a 22-year-old man who died in Pukekohe on Saturday when his motorbike left the road.
On Good Friday, English tourist Adam James Birdsey, 23, died when the campervan in which he was a passenger collided with a four-wheel drive on the outskirts of Blenheim.
The driver of the campervan has been charged over the accident and will appear in court tomorrow.
Also on Good Friday, Raymond Tuigamala, 22, of Featherston, died after his car hit a tree just north of Greytown.
The official toll was one fewer than the five who died on East roads in 2006, and less than half the nine who died in 2005.
- NZPA
