One in three road deaths are caused by speeding, young and repeat drunk drivers, according to a new report released by Transport Minister Steven Joyce.

Police are urging people to adjust their driving to wet conditions after a fatal crash this morning.

Ten people were hurt in three separate crashes on a notorious stretch of highway in just six hours yesterday.

A decorated soldier's family have spoken of their grief at his death in a crash that broke every rule.

The Pike River mine tragedy would not have happened if NZ had maintained a mining inspector programme canned more than a decade ago, a mining expert says. He says families are right to be furious at the Govt for interfering in mine safety.

Quick-witted rescuers scrawled a line in the beach to point others to the site of a helicopter crash.

In a scene straight out of a desert island castaway story, a line scrawled in the beach pointed rescuers to a helicopter crash in the sea near Whangarei today, helping save a pilot's life.

A man with serious leg injuries has been cut from a van in a crash causing long delays on the Southern Motorway in Auckland.

A 23-year-old man has been taken to hospital after being pulled from the sea after his helicopter crashed off the Northland coast. He was the pilot and only occupant of the chopper and escaped with minor injuries.

An air search has started off the Northland coast after reports an aircraft may have crashed into the sea.

A snorkeller has been called the 'luckiest guy in the world' after his life was saved by two cruise boat skippers.

John Key has defended police in the wake of a damning report and a much criticised decision to end recovery efforts at Pike River Coal mine.