15-year-old Morocco Tai who died in police chase, was in earlier wrong-way up motorway incident
One of the grimmest weekends on New Zealand roads claimed the lives of nine people.
The deaths have brought the road toll to 292 for 2017, up 41 on the same time last year. Another 10 people have been injured or seriously injured.
A 15-year-old boy named Morocco Tai, of Otara, died today when he drove a stolen car fleeing from police into a tree on a suburban street. Two other female passengers were taken to hospital, one with serious injuries.
Morocco had previously been caught on camera as a passenger of a stolen car which was travelling at speeds of up 120km/h in the wrong direction on Auckland's Southern Motorway on September 22.
A triple fatality north of Winton, Southland, last night claimed the lives of a former NZ First MP's nephew Jesse Shortland and his wife Samie. Ria Bond's 28-year-old nephew was travelling home from his father's funeral when the head-on crash happened on the Dipton-Winton Highway, near Ladbrook Rd, a statement from New Zealand First said.
Family of King have expressed their shock on social media.
One posted "love to our little sis Gaylene Bell-King and her baby who sadly passed away yesterday god bless for eva in our hearts".
The women are being kept at Te Koraha Marae, Tahaaroa, until burial.
Waikato road policing Senior Sergeant Pete van de Wetering said one vehicle must have crossed the centre line.
A motorcycle rider is the latest person to lose their life after a crash with a car in Motueka this morning.
A 20-year-old man named Jordan Bruce Young died on Saturday on State Highway One at Tamahere, Waikato.
Wayne Faga was killed on Friday when his truck collided with a train. Photo / Supplied
The driver of a truck died on Friday when he collided with a train pulling empty logging carriages. The sole occupant of the truck was 48-year-old Wayne William Fagasa of Whakatane.
Additionally an elderly man died today when his car crashed into a tree on the grounds of North Shore Hospital. A police spokesperson said the death may have been the result of a medical event, rather than being caused by the crash. His death is not included in the road toll as it was not on a public road.
Assistant Commissioner of road policing Sandra Venables said it was too early to give exact details of the causes of the weekend's crashes but speed, fatigue, losing control and crossing the centre line were all factors.
"Every death is reported as a number, but each number has a face, a name and a family. They leave behind loved ones whose lives have been changed forever."
Over Labour Day Weekend police would be enforcing a lower speed threshold, focusing on areas of highest demand and risk. While police are targeting unsafe drivers to reduce death and injury, ultimately safe journeys start and end with driver behaviour, Venables said.
"Every time you get behind the wheel you hold your life and the lives of your passengers and your fellow road users in your hands. Please take this responsibility seriously - wear your seat belt, make sure your passengers are wearing seatbelts, watch your speed and drive to the conditions."
The 2016 road toll was 328 deaths, the largest in five years. However this year looks like it will be even bigger with 41 more lives claimed than this time last year.
Children orphaned in wedding anniversary crash
A couple who died in a head-on crash were due to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
They were on their way back from Jesse Shortland's father's funeral when they collided with another car in Dipton on Sunday night.
Shortland, 28, and his wife Samie Shortland died. Two infant children were pulled from the wreckage by a farmer and a firefighter. Their 2-year-old son Heath and 8-month-old daughter Skylar were both in car seats and have survived, Fairfax reported.
The woman driver of the second car also died. All three were in their 20s.
They were among nine people who lost their lives on New Zealand roads between Friday and the early hours of this morning, bringing the road toll to 292 - up 41 on the same time last year.
Shortland's aunt, former NZ First MP Ria Bond, told Fairfax she was meant to be in the car with the family after attending her brother's funeral in Hokitika.
"I was meant to be in the car with them. I decided I would cancel my plane tickets and go with them, but the airport was closed so I had to wait.
"Our family are just devastated by the triple tragedy over the weekend ... we're pretty broken as a family right now."
The couple were due to celebrate their third wedding anniversary on Labour Weekend, Fairfax reported.
Dipton farmer Suzanne Harvey has told of the horrific scene of a triple-fatal car crash and helping to care for two young children in the mangled wreck.
She was at home with her husband and daughter when she heard what sounded like a rifle going off.
"I thought that maybe the neighbours were out hunting, so I sat out on the deck but couldn't see anything, usually you see a spotlight (if someone is hunting).
"I looked out to the road and a milk tanker with its hazard lights on and I saw another couple of vehicles put its their hazard lights on, so I hopped in the car and went to the scene, and it wasn't good," Harvey told the Herald.
Arriving at the crash with firemen already on the scene, Harvey could hear a baby crying in the back seat of one of the cars.
"There were two little boys in the back, another gentleman was holding a little two-year old and got him out of the car.
"I said 'I'll take the baby' so I just picked him up and comforted him as best I could until the ambulance arrived, that's all I could do," she said.
After the ambulances arrived, Harvey said she was home for 10 minutes and heard a helicopter arrive to pick up the children.
"I just hope they're alright. You don't know what internal injuries they have."
A number of crashes have occurred around the Harvey family's home, she recalls.
"(We had) a fatality about a year or so ago when a young man hit a power pole just south of our house, and my husband was just saying someone had gone through our fence probably 20 metres away from the accident.
"It's a long stretch of road that people can put their foot down and go quite fast, I don't know what caused the accident last night, but it was just horrific."
The crash reinforced how precious life was to Harvey, with last night's events still in the forefront of her mind.
"The thing that keeps me going is that if it happened to me, I would hope someone would step in and take charge of my kids," Harvey said.
The two children were flown to Kew Hospital in Invercargill. The toddler had moderate injuries and the baby had minor injuries. Both are being supported by members of their family, with their situation deemed to be non life-threatening.
