Three killed on roads today

The driver of the maroon ford, a 29-year-old woman, died this morning following a car crash on SH29 near Raglan. Photo / Christine Cornege

Three people have died in road crashes today - two in Waikato and the third in Western Bay of Plenty.

Two of the fatal crashes happened this morning within a short time of each other while the third was at 12.26pm, on State Highway 25 near Whitianga, where an American tourist died when his southbound car and a northbound car collided, district road policing manager Inspector Leo Tooman said.

The man and the driver of the other car were airlifted to Auckland Hospital, where the tourist later died.

His American passenger was being treated in Thames Hospital.

Police had spoken to several witnesses but appealed for others to contact the Whitianga Police Station.

"We're particularly keen to hear from the driver and occupants of an 8m-long blue bus who we believe was in the vicinity," he said.

Earlier today, a crash near Raglan, also in the Waikato, claimed the life of a woman.

Mr Tooman said the crash happened on a greasy road caused by rain following a long dry spell, prompting police again to urge motorists to take caution in wet weather.

The woman, who has not been named, died when her car and another collided about 8.40am today.

District road policing manager Inspector Leo Tooman said it appeared the woman had hit a barrier on the lefthand side of the road, which threw her Ford car into the path of a Mitsubishi.

The woman died at the scene, while both the passenger and driver of the Mitsubishi were taken to Waikato Hospital with serious injuries.

Mr Tooman said the crash happened during wet weather which followed a long, dry spell. That meant the roads were greasy due to a build-up of deposits of such things as diesel, which took time to wash away.

"If it's raining, slow down," he told NZPA.

"The other thing drivers should do is not use the centre line as a guide but use the fog lines (the solid lines on the left hand side of the road) instead. What we're seeing is too many people dying or being seriously injured when cars cross the centre line.

"It's only a thin lick of paint separating cars travelling towards each other at speeds up to 100km/h, there's not a lot of room for mistakes and with the current weather conditions there's even less, so our message is to slow down and keep left."

The crash was the second in the North Island this morning; a 45-year-old Rotorua man died at the scene after his truck rolled at Horohoro, 15km south-east of Rotorua, shortly before 8am.

Four people died on the nation's roads over the weekend, including 22-year-old cyclist Benjamin Patrick Thomas Lawless, of Wellington.

Mr Lawless' cycle and a car collided in the Wellington suburb of Karori late Saturday night.

Three people were killed and two teenagers critically injured in a crash north of Tauranga on Friday night.

Dylan Perkinson, 17, Vance Williams, 16 and father-of-three Mark August Sydney, 44, died after the collision on State Highway 2, in Waihi, about 11.45pm.

All three were from Waihi. Mr Sydney was a former army lieutenant, who received a New Year's honour in 2007 for his work with the Royal New Zealand Military Police in Bosnia.

- NZPA