Police have named a Timaru man who was crushed to death by his car while trying to remove the oil filter.

Provincial authorities in Thailand have shut down a biomass power plant following the deaths of Michael Coppins and a Thai colleague.

A man watched his brother plunge 50m on to rocks in a paragliding accident at a west Auckland beach yesterday.

The man who crashed into and killed a TV3 staff member was two times over the legal blood alcohol limit, police allege.

Charlotte Christie fears driving along the winding Gisborne-to-Wairoa road after writing off her car in a pile-up on a blind bend in which another motorist lost an arm.

A Herald analysis of Transport Agency data collected from 67 districts has revealed the deadliest parts of the country in terms of personal risk to road users.

An 83-year-old spent weeks in hospital after she was hit by a car and was then smacked with a bill for $1800 by the driver's insurance company.

The trial of a man over the death of Timaru businessman Allan Hubbard in a car crash has been adjourned until July 19.

A truck and trailer rolled in Waikato overnight but the driver was not injured.

The mother of a 12-year-old boy hit by a car as he walked home from school is being chased for damages by the driver's insurance company.

Allan Hubbard died in a head-on car crash caused by his elderly wife, not by the other driver accused of careless driving causing his death, a court has been told.

A mountain biker who plunged 9m to his death was not found until the next day after police decided to call off an area search, a coroner's finding has detailed.

For the first time since records began there has not been a single road death during the Queen's Birthday weekend, and police say it is a "very positive" result.

A survivor of a fire that gutted a Rotorua warehouse, killing teenage girl Mihinui Tamiana, tried to run back into the inferno to save her.

A hunter has died after falling more than 10m onto rocks from a cable bridge near Hanmer Springs.

Teenagers hospitalised by the factory fire that killed 14-year-old Mihinui Tamiana will be interviewed by police investigating how the blaze started.

Police are urging motorists to drive to the conditions after a fatality-free start to Queen's Birthday Weekend.

A fire that ripped through a factory, killing a schoolgirl, is believed to have been caused by a petrol generator bought just weeks ago by teenagers for parties there.

A motorcyclist has been blown off the road as strong winds hinder traffic in the South Island this morning.

Seven people have been injured in a three-car collision in Auckland this afternoon.

The mother of two teenage sisters killed in a Christmas Day 2011 crash near Tauranga says she has forgiven the man responsible for their deaths.

It was a messy start to the long weekend for thousands of Aucklanders yesterday when a car crash closed part of the Southern Motorway, just before the official Queen's Birthday holiday period began.

Five people have died in crashes on the country's roads already this week, as police brace for Queen's Birthday weekend - a notorious period for road fatalities.

The driver of a vehicle that crashed near Tauranga on Christmas Day 2011, killing two children, has been sentenced to seven years and six months in prison.