A new report has found a big increase in the amount of high alcohol content drinks on sale to New Zealanders.

Former Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright has made a plea to the Government to be bolder on alcohol reform.

A teenage girl who drove a van that crashed and killed two men while she was more than three times the legal drink drive limit has avoided a jail term.

Pernod Ricard threatened to pull its advertising from TVNZ after a vodka ad was placed alongside a story about a schoolboy who drank himself to death.

Two Auckland men were critically injured when their car was cut in two in a high-speed head-on collision with a truck yesterday.

The death of a man hurt in a Waikato crash has brought the holiday road toll to 10. A 20-year-old died of his injuries about 4pm in Waikato Hospital. A car he was in yesterday hit a van carrying five disabled children on SH1.

Transport Minister Steven Joyce ignored expert advice to cut the drink-drive limit and save lives after pointed questions from John Key's office suggesting there might be a public backlash, new papers reveal.

Young people, particularly girls, drinking excessively and putting themselves at risk are concerning police.

Speed, alcohol and driver fatigue all appear to have been contributing factors in a crash on SH1 at Horotiu, north of Hamilton, today that has left two young men fighting for their lives.

Police have told parents to keep track of their children after finding a girl, 14, having allegedly drug-fuelled sex near a beach overnight.