Police have confirmed at least one person is dead after a crash on SH1, north of Taupo.
In the past six days, nine lives have been tragically lost on the country's roads - frustrating the country's top traffic cop.
Children have lost their parents, parents have lost their children and a mum-to-be never lived to see the baby she was carrying born.
National road policing manager Superintendent Steve Greally said the rising road toll was "very, very frustrating".
While he didn't like to think of the 324 - which includes the man who died this morning near Taupo - as simply numbers, it was still unnerving to see it climbing so high again.
At the same time last year, the road toll was almost neck and neck, sitting at 325.
"A driver decides not to sleep and then drive or a driver decides to drink and drive or to speed or to not put their seatbelt on.
"All those things are basic, basic things that there is no wonder that these things occur because of the risk takers that don't see the risk, or act despite the risk."
Drivers using their cellphone behind the wheel was now a key cause of fatal crashes, alongside speed and fatigue.
"Oh it's out of control. There wouldn't be a person in the country who haven't seen people texting on their phones while they've been on a road. Some people think they can multi-task and multi-tasking is fine when the stakes are not high, it is not when the stakes are so high. With human life we shouldn't be multi-tasking, we should be having our eyes on the road and our hands on the wheel.
More people were also continuing to choose to ignore to wear their seatbelts.
"We cannot ignore that as the cause."
Greally said he and his staff felt for all the families who had lost a loved one the road so far this year.
"I can't understand how hard that must be."
Friends and family members from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island are grieving for the people they have lost too soon, including young lives who held so much promise.
Thursday 8 November – 11.30pm, Devon Rd, New Plymouth
Jayden Daniel Baldwin, 21, of New Plymouth died in a crash on Devon Rd on November 8. Photo/ Facebook
Jayden Daniel Baldwin, 21, died when the vehicle he was a passenger in crashed into a building on Devon Rd, between the intersections of Vickers Rd and Egmont Rd, around 11.30pm.
Friends and family have posted tributes on social media describing Baldwin as having a huge smile, loving eyes and a beautiful soul.
Baldwin had lost a close friend last year and a friend recalled how he had promised he would aways be there for them.
Friday November 9 - 2.25pm, Waiuku Rd, Auckland
One person died at the scene of the crash which was near Glenbrook Station Rd.. Other people were reported to have minor injuries.
A St John spokeswoman said one person was taken to Middlemore Hospital in a moderate condition.
Saturday 11 November - 8.30am, SH35 on the Tatapouri side of Makorori Hill, Gisborne
Erica Lynne Delany Jones died in a Gisborne crash involving car and a logging truck. Photo / Facebook
Erica Lynne Delany Jones, 26, has been described as a rising leader who was pregnant with her first child.
Delany Jones was killed when her vehicle and a logging truck collided.
Family and friends have described her as a "special person, so beautiful, selfless, talented and humble".
Her family revealed in a death notice in the Gisborne Herald that she had been pregnant.
Broadcaster and family member Matai Smith has described Jones on social media as "someone so special, so vivacious, so giving, so selfless, so loving, so talented, so humble, so beautiful and so young".
He said she had helped make the world a better place and still had a lot more to give.
"I think of how blessed we were to have you as part of our world, how you always lit the darkest room up with your mere presence, that smile that laugh, that banter.
"How nothing was ever too much of a task for you. You always took on whatever you were tasked with doing or organising with the utmost confidence and professionalism."
Saturday 11 November - 2pm, Dyers Pass Rd, Governors Bay
Kyle John McKitterick, 48, of Christchurch, was travelling in a convoy of three motorcycles when the bike he was riding collided with a van on the narrow road.
He was taken to hospital in a critical condition, but later died from his injuries.
Saturday 11 November - 11.30pm, State Highway between Sharlands Rd and Sheats Rd, Dunsandel
A 40-year-old woman died after being struck by a car on the State Highway. The woman was seen by other motorists who along with the driver of the car who hit her are assisting police with their inquiries. Her name has not been released.
Sunday 12 November - 12am, Mangaharakeke Dr/State Highway 1, Hamilton
Grace Hill, 16, pictured with boyfriend Mitchell Kay, died in a crash which claimed the lives of Mitchell's Hamilton parents Jeremy and Tania. Photo/ Supplied
Grace Hill had her whole life in front of her. The popular teenager, who was due to turn 17 at the end of the month, had just moved from Auckland to be with her Hamilton boyfriend Mitchell Kay and was excited about having a new job at Smiggle at Chartwell.
Grace's mother, Hayley Ellwood, said she named her daughter after the hymn Amazing Grace because she was simply that: amazing."
Ellwood said Grace was funny, smart, determined and strong-willed and her death was something her family had been left struggling to come to terms with.
Her Westlake High School friends Pearl Tottenham, and Pania Reihana-Halford, described her as being full of life and the bubbliest person they had ever met.
"She was so funny and so hyper all the time," Pearl said. "The amount of weird stuff that she did. I had videos of her running round and jumping in puddles in the pouring rain and taking her school uniform off.
Jeremy Kay died in the same crash which killed his wife and his son's partner. Photo / Facebook
Grace's boyfriend Mitchell's parents' Jeremy Kay, 47 and Tania Kay, 44 both from Taupiri were also killed in the crash.
They were described as loving devoted parents of their two children.
Jeremy was a drummer in local band, Tenfoot Leap, and described as "the classic dad".
Tenfoot Leap posted a tribute to Jeremy on the band's Facebook page paying tribute to their "beloved drummer".
Tania Kay's boss Phil Caldwell, of mortgage and insurance broker Lime Group, said they had been devastated by the news of her death.
Tania Kay died in a crash in which her husband and son's partner were also killed. Photo / Facebook
"She was a lovely lady, I just can't believe what's happened ... she was the glue in the insurance team, she was well experienced in that field. Just a down-to-earth country lady who loved a glass of wine."
