Queen's Birthday road toll goes from zero to one

New Zealand will have to wait a bit longer before it goes through a holiday period without a road death after the Queen's Birthday holiday toll was revised. Photo / Mark Mitchell

A pedestrian injured in Wellington during Queen's Birthday Weekend, died this week, changing the holiday weekend toll from zero to one.

He was Geoffrey Peren, 20, who was hit by a car at the traffic lights on the corner of Taranaki and Arthur Streets at 10pm on June 4.

A police spokeswoman said that the vehicle was travelling through a green light when Mr Peren stepped in front of it.

The long weekend had been applauded as the first time New Zealand had gone through a holiday period without a road death.

Police have not yet revealed details of the fatal accident but today road policing national manager Superintendent Paula Rose said the force was "deeply saddened by this death and our sympathy goes to the family".

"As I have said often, one death is one too many and this has been a particularly harrowing time for the family -- our hearts go out to them."

Despite now matching several other holiday weekend road tolls, this year's Queen's Birthday toll remains the equal lowest on record.

"We are in the habit of calculating success by calculating the number of deaths but we must not lose sight of the fact, that these are real lives we are talking about and any death is a tragedy," Ms Rose said.

"Our challenge is to make every journey every person makes a safe one."

She urged motorists to remain vigilant and keep working to reduce the road toll.

- NZPA