Road toll up on last year after weekend deaths

The national road toll stood at 228 today -- 16 more than for the same period last year -- after five people were killed over the weekend.

Four people were killed in two horrific smashes within a couple of hours of each other yesterday.

Two people died when a car was engulfed in flames after a head-on crash at Kerepehi on the Hauraki Plains.

Police spokesman John Fraser of the Northern Communications Centre said the accident happened at 1.45pm on State Highway 2, about 12km southeast of Ngatea.

Police accident investigators said it appeared a southbound car crossed the centre line, hitting a car travelling in the opposite direction, causing it to spin out of control and burst into flames.

The driver and passenger, believed to be a man and woman, were probably killed instantly, before the fire started.

Other motorists reportedly tried to put out the fire but it was too intense.

The driver of the other car was airlifted to Waikato Hospital by rescue helicopter in a critical condition.

Meanwhile, two men were killed in a collision on a 50km/h stretch of State Highway 1 through Putaruru in the Waikato about 12.20pm.

One driver, believed to be a woman in her 60s, was flown to Waikato Hospital with serious head, chest, pelvis and leg injuries.

Her passenger died at the scene, along with the driver of the other car.

His passenger was also airlifted to Waikato Hospital.

Lower Hutt police have yet to release the name of a 14-year-old cyclist who was killed on Friday when his bike was run over by a double cab ute.

The boy was biking north on State Highway 2 about 6.45pm when he was struck by the ute travelling in the same direction.

He died later in Hutt Hospital.

Detective Sergeant Grant Ferguson said police were still in the process of speaking to witnesses and the serious crash unit would continue its investigation today.

It had not yet been decided whether the driver would be charged in relation to the death.

Meawhile, police have named a young Canterbury mother who died after her car was crushed by an army transport truck in Canterbury on Friday morning.

Beth Jennifer Jones, 37, of Hinds, died in Christchurch Hospital late Friday.

Detective Sergeant Shona Low of the Ashburton police said the victim's car collided head on with the truck after she was nudged from behind by another vehicle while trying to overtake a northbound front-end loader, on State Highway 1 south of Hinds.

She and her young son had to be cut from their badly damaged car, which was wedged under the front of the army truck.

The driver of the army truck was shaken but unhurt, as was the driver of the other car.

- NZPA