KEY POINTS:
Four separate accidents on the country's roads have claimed five lives.
One man was killed on the Kopu-Hikuai stretch of State Highway 25 last night and two people died when their car hit a power pole on State Highway 26.
A man is dead after his car collided with another at an intersection in Christchurch.
Police say the dead man's car did not stop at the intersection of Blakes Road and Shands Road. His passenger has been critically injured.
A man has died following a crash in the Westport area.
Police say his vehicle was travelling toward Charleston on State Highway 67 around four o'clock yesterday afternoon and left the road, went down a bank, hit a tree, and came to rest on a riverbank.
The young man, a Buller resident, suffered severe injuries and had died by the time emergency services reached him. Police say it was raining heavily at the time.
- NZPA, NZ HERALD STAFF
