Holiday road toll now at one

The first fatal crash occurred early this evening following 127 non-fatals. Photo / Supplied

One person has died in a three-vehicle crash in Northland this evening, bringing the holiday road toll to one.

Emergency services were called to the crash on State Highway 1 at Oakleigh, near Whangarei, about 6.45.

Police said one person had died and three others were injured.

"At this stage the severity of the injuries is not known," police said.

SH1 was closed at the scene and traffic diversions were being put in place.

The police serious crash unit will be investigating.

Prior to the fatality, police said there had been 127 crashes since 3pm yesterday.

National road policing manager Superintendent Steve Greally earlier said it was the law of averages that someone would die over the holiday period.

"Unfortunately, as tragic as it is, we do lose people at this time of year."

He said there were lots of reasons the crashes had happened, including speeding, driving with alcohol, and motorists answering text messages.

"Crashes do not happen if you're paying attention. It's as simple as that."

Mr Greally said the majority of the crashes were "very low level". Several of the others were serious but the people involved did not have life-threatening injuries.

"The crashes have had varying degrees of seriousness. There were a couple of crashes that were really serious but have since been downgraded - the people are out of the woods, they are going to be okay."

Earlier today, a driver was critically injured and a front-seat passenger was seriously hurt in a two-car crash near Rotorua.

The crash happened on Ngongotaha Rd about 4.30pm.

The driver of one car was initially trapped but was freed and taken to Rotorua Hospital.
The sole occupant of the other car suffered a serious arm injury.

Police are investigating the cause of the collision.

A cyclist was critically injured in a road accident in Ranui, West Auckland.

The cyclist fell from his bicycle on Swanson Rd, a police spokesman said.

Two St John ambulances attended the scene about 2.30pm and the cyclist was taken to Auckland City Hospital.

St John ambulance attended the scene about 2.30pm and took the person to Auckland City Hospital.