Toll at six after 2010's first road death

A woman killed in a crash near Coronet Peak is the first to die on NZ roads in 2010. File photo / Bay of Plenty Times

Holiday road toll (4pm December 24th - 6am January 5th)

A woman is dead and two others have life threatening injuries after a crash north of Queenstown this afternoon.

Two vehicles with three occupants each collided head-on on Littles Rd, near Arthur's Point, 6km north of Queenstown about 4.20pm.

The woman who died at the scene, was a passenger, police said.

Two helicopters flew the two people with life threatening injuries to hospital.

Victim support had been called to assist victims and police.

Police, fire and ambulance attended the crash.

The road was closed while Queenstown Police and serious crash investigators looked into the cause, police said.

The woman was the first person to die on New Zealand roads this year. Her death takes the holiday road toll to six.

The holiday period began 4pm December 24 and ends at 6am January 5.

Two people were killed in separate crashes in Bay of Plenty yesterday evening.

One died in a head-on crash on State Highway 2 at Matata, 23km northwest of Whakatane, about 6pm.

Less than an hour later, a man died after speeding through a police checkpoint and crashing into a ditch near Opotiki.

Police heard the vehicle speeding towards the checkpoint, which they said they driver would not have seen. When he spotted the police, he ignored signals to stop, and accelerated before crashing into a ditch about 200m further on.

Wednesday, a motorcyclist died after crashing on SH6 near Punakaiki, 42km northeast of Greymouth on the West Coast.

Picton man Murray John Roberts, 71, was killed on Monday when his car collided with another vehicle on SH1 southeast of Blenheim.

Ngaruawahia man Paul McLaughlin, 31, was killed in a crash in Waikato early on Christmas Day.

- NZPA