Fatal crash at Kaiwaka brings Northland road deaths to 27

A man died when these two vehicles collided on Gibbon's Rd, Kaiwaka, yesterday.

The death of a man on a rural Northland road yesterday brought the region's road toll to 27 this year.

Police were called to the two-vehicle crash on Gibbons Rd, about 3km from State Highway 1 near Kaiwaka, about 10am yesterday.An officer at the scene said two vehicles had collided head-on on a slight bend of the gravel road.

One driver died at the scene. A member of his family in the vehicle with him was not injured.

The sole occupant of the second vehicle, a man, was breath tested at the scene.

An officer with the police serious crash unit surveyed the crash site and investigations were ongoing.

The death is the third this month. Last Saturday two women were killed south of Whangārei.

Two other people, including a child, were also injured in that crash, which closed both lanes of State Highway 1 at Oakleigh for more than five hours.

Those who died were 42-year-old British woman Kerry Sargent, who was a front-seat passenger in a northbound Kia, and 65-year-old Mary Peneamena from Auckland, who was a front-seat passenger in a southbound Toyota van.