Weekend road toll at two

A man killed in a crash late last night in Canterbury has brought the weekend road toll to two.

A 49-year-old died at the scene of the single vehicle crash on Haldon Road, a gravel road near Lake Tekapo just before midnight, Acting Sergeant Simon Heeley of Timaru police told NZPA.

Two other people had been in the vehicle. Mr Heeley believed one of them had been airlifted to hospital.

The deceased's family were being told today, he said.

Police were investigating.

Yesterday about 3pm, a 23-year-old died in a crash on Muriwai Road near Waimauku Village, 23km north west of Auckland City.

Another man and two women who were in the car were taken to Auckland Hospital. One had been discharged and the others' injuries were not thought to be life-threatening.

Acting Sergeant Colin Nuttall, of the serious crash unit, said the car had been travelling behind a friend's car when it crossed the centre line.

"He then lost control of the vehicle which has then rotated and impacted on a bank and then a tree," he told NZPA.

The other car had been seized by police, because there was a possibility the vehicles had been racing before the crash, Mr Nuttall said.

"We have got one witness who thought they saw something like racing, but another witness described something else.

"Until we get confirmation I'm reluctant to say whether they were racing or not."There was alcohol in the vehicle which crashed but it was not known if it was a factor in the crash, he said.

"We know the others in the car which crashed had been drinking, but we don't know that yet about the victim and we're waiting for results from ESR."

The men's deaths are the first weekend road fatalities for weeks, as no one died on New Zealand's roads during the past two weekends.

- NZPA