Fatal crash victim named

A man who died after crashing his car into a tree in the Waikato on Thursday morning has been named by police.

He was Royal Grayson Beazley, 24, from Hamilton.

Waikato road policing manager Inspector Freda Grace said police were searching for a stolen car near Ngaruawahia when they came across the single vehicle crash shortly after 4am on Thursday.

It appeared Mr Beazley had lost control on Great South Rd, near the intersection with Havelock Rd, and collided with a tree.

She said Mr Beazley was found alive but in an unconscious state and died a short time later in an ambulance.

He was not wearing a seatbelt, she said.

"The crash is under investigation by the Waikato serious crash unit and tragically, it appears had Mr Beazley been wearing a seatbelt, the low speed collision may have been survivable."

Mrs Grace said Thursday's crash happened less than 24 hours after a similar crash in Hamilton, where an elderly man crashed his car into a tree following what police believed was a medical episode.

"That driver remains in Waikato Hospital's intensive care unit and officers who attended the crash praised those first on the scene.

"Information that we have is that two separate witnesses, a man and a woman, removed the man from the car and administered CPR before police arrived and an officer took over."

Mrs Grace said the man and the woman were also assisted by students from St Johns High School, who were at the scene.

She said the actions of the man, woman and students, gave the man a "fighting chance" at a full recovery.

- NZME.