The road toll sits at five. Last year, six people died in road accidents over the same weekend. Photo / File
A reduced Queen's Birthday weekend road toll is still not good enough, say police.
The road toll sits at five. Last year, six people died in road accidents over the same weekend.
Several people remain in hospital with potentially life threatening injuries.
Police assistant commissioner Dave Cliff said although there had been fewer fatalities, even one road death was too many.
He said police were still investigating the fatal crashes, but the same factors were usually responsible.
"The big issues ... from a behavioural perspective are travelling too fast ... failing to pay attention, drink driving and failing to wear safety belts," Mr Cliff said.
His comments come after a chaotic weekend on roads with the deaths of a 5-year-old boy, three drivers and a motorcycle pillion passenger.
Five-year-old Levin boy Kaide Preston died on Monday in Starship hospital from injuries sustained in a Friday evening crash.
Kaide and his father were injured when their car collided with a southbound vehicle.
On Saturday morning, 36-year-old Malaysian-born Lisa Yieng died in a car crash in Te Puke.
Another woman was killed on Sunday afternoon after she was thrown from a motorbike and into the path of oncoming traffic.
The crash also put the motorbike driver in hospital with reportedly "nasty" leg injuries. Three other people were treated at the scene.
Raymond Frost, of Mangawhai, died after a car veered off the road, hit rocks and flipped into mangroves on Sunday morning.
Andrew Lawrence Orr, 23, died after a car accident on Sunday night when his four-wheel drive ended up down a bank on Lees Valley Rd in Oxford, north Canterbury.
Mr Cliff said trends were positive when it came to reducing drink driving and speeding, but New Zealand's number of deaths per 100,000 was still much higher than other western countries.
"[It's] still at twice the rate of the best performing countries."
The 19-year-old disappeared without her wallet or mobile phone.