Triple fatality continues horror week on roads

Eleven people died in crashes over the Easter holiday period. Photo / One News

A horror seven days has seen 18 people die in 12 road accidents and has left police again blaming speed and alcohol as a factor in many of them.

Five people were killed overnight, including a two-year-old girl and two British tourists. Those accidents have come on the back of the worst Easter holiday road toll in 17 years, with 11 people were killed.

Two more people died on Tuesday - an elderly man hit by a bus in the Auckland suburb of Onehunga and a 46-year-old grandfather when his four-wheel drive vehicle rolled several times and crashed into a tree while being driven at speed along a gravel track on Waiheke Island.

Inspector John McClelland from Police National Headquarters said today it was upsetting the same factors seemed to be behind many of the accidents.

Speed and alcohol were suspected as a factor in five of the crashes, including one last night near Dannevirke in southern Hawke's Bay, in which a toddler, her 36-year-old father and a 73-year-old woman were killed.

"The disappointing thing for many of them is booze and speed and really police can do only so much, you can legislate only so much, but really people driving vehicles just really have to take responsibility when they're on the road and be aware of what's happening around them and be prepared for the unexpected."

In yesterday's second crash an English couple holidaying in New Zealand were killed after a head-on crash between two rental cars in Southland, about 60km southeast of Te Anau.

Driver fatigue could have been to blame for that accident as well as two others, Mr McClelland said.

When people were tired their attention levels dropped and sometimes road signs were missed.

"Fatigue or tiredness comes on gradually. If you find you're wandering or your eyes are droopy then you've really got to stop - and you're better off being late than being dead on arrival."

It had been a "horrendous" week for accidents, Mr McClelland said.

"With the numbers that have crept up over the last two days, bugger me, it's almost as much as we've had over the weekend."

Some of the crashes were also caused through people not necessarily speeding, but driving too fast for the road conditions, he said.

"All this stuff is preventable. And it's just such a waste of life."

- NZPA