The scene of a two-vehicle crash on State Highway 2 near Masterton on Sunday. Photo / Gerald Ford
The scene of a two-vehicle crash on State Highway 2 near Masterton on Sunday. Photo / Gerald Ford
Six people have died on the roads this Queen's Birthday weekend, putting the official road toll above last year's count for all three days.
Shortly after 3pm today, a man died after a single vehicle crash on Dun Rd, near Kaingaroa Forest, east of Taupo.
A Northern Fire Service spokesman said the vehicle had crashed into a tree and its single occupant became "severely trapped". The man was declared dead at the scene.
Earlier today, a man was killed and four people including a mother and her baby were injured in a two-vehicle smash in Northern Wairarapa, near Mt Bruce, just before noon.
And in Mangere East at about 9.15am, two people had to be cut from a car after it crashed into a tree on Ferguson St. Four people were in the car.
A car crashed into a tree in Mangere. Photo / Michael Craig
A 16-year-old who was was taken to hospital in critical condition was stable last night.
A 9-year-old and another person are seriously injured.
Senior Sergeant Amber Stobie said at the scene: "This is a timely reminder to drivers that we need to drive to the conditions, take care on the roads, don't drink before driving, stick to the speed limits, wear your seatbelts - and again, drive to the conditions."
Alex Tonga, 16, witnessed the car "zooming up and down" the street in South Auckland where he lived.
"The driver was probably doing 120 or 140ks, I don't know, but I was thinking he was either drunk or crazy, eh."
Mohammed Shafik, 59, said he was awoken by a "loud bang".
"I rushed out, and it was then that I knew the sound came from a car crash," he said.
Mr Shafik said the street was popular with boy racers, and that residents had believed it was just a matter of time before a serious accident happened.
His granddaughter Shama Shahista, 15, said several less serious accidents had happened on the street in the past.
"Usually it's in the early hours of the morning when people are coming home from parties or something," she said.
Josh Patel, 46, who stays overnight at his girlfriend's house on the street every weekend said boy racers had been "terrorising" residents.
"They drive their souped-up cars at top speed endangering not just their own lives, but pedestrians too," he said.
"They're terrorising us, and that's why some of us don't even want to step out of our homes at night."
Yesterday, National Road Policing Manager Superintendent Steve Greally pleaded with motorists to "do the right thing".
"Every person is so important and that is just tragic. There is nothing that can replace that person.
"That's a family broken forever," Greally said.
"The crashes we are having are needless, more often than not these crashes are happening because someone has made a mistake."
Safety messages were not getting through, he said.
"If you're good enough to understand the safety rules [when you're sitting your licence] then you should be good enough to practise those rules every day. It's the hardest thing in the world to tell a person their family member is dead."
Last night a person was killed in a three-vehicle crash on State Highway 1 at Greta Valley, between Christchurch and Kaikoura.
Four others were hurt in the 6pm crash, which involved a truck and two other vehicles.
About two hours earlier a motorcyclist died after colliding at speed with a parked vehicle on Castlebane Drive in the Auckland suburb of Flat Bush. The motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene.
A 64-year-old Kaikoura man was the first to die on our roads this holiday weekend. He was killed and several others were badly injured in the four-car crash on State Highway 1 north of Dunedin just before 6pm on Friday.
The second death occurred early yesterday when two cars collided on State Highway 3 near Te Kuiti. One person died and two others were injured, one seriously.
In Christchurch a woman has been seriously injured after her car hit a traffic light.
