A motorist temporarily blinded by sun-strike crashed into the back of a slow moving truck and trailer unit today, leaving him with spinal injuries and lacerations.

The 18-year-old who died after the van she was in plunged off an alpine highway had given birth last year.

The Methven resident was on his way home from Ashburton when he ploughed into three cows at about 7pm on Saturday.

Police are at the scene of a two car crash near Hamurana on the outskirts of Rotorua where one person had to be cut free of the wreckage.

A van that plunged down a cliff in the central South Island yesterday, killing a woman and injuring five others, did not have any back seats, investigators say.

Two women are dead after separate crashes on one South Island alpine highway yesterday.

A woman is dead and five others injured after a van rolled some 30m down a bank onto train tracks in the central South Island this morning, police say.

A woman was critically injured when her car overturned in a crash on Kaihere Road near Kerepehi, south of Thames.

Two motorists had to be cut from their cars after a serious crash in Christchurch last night.

Two people are dead after the van they were in left the road north-west of Auckland early this morning.

A Kaitaia man accused of murdering a 28-year-old woman during a road vehicle incident on Tuesday will defend the charge.

A man who admitted careless driving, causing the death of a Hamilton cyclist had his sentencing delayed when he appeared in court this morning.

A man was killed when his car crashed into a power pole south of Auckland yesterday.

A woman was injured when her car hit a bank and rolled as a result of another vehicle dangerously changing lanes yesterday.

Police are treating the death of a woman who was run over by a vehicle near Kaitaia this morning as a homicide.

The Desert Road is expected to be blocked for several hours this morning after a truck has rolled.

A bus carrying 27 passengers rolled last night as its driver apparently tried to avoid a truck, leaving six people in hospital.

A 21-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman are dead after a crash in south Canterbury.

A motorist has died and several others are injured after a crash near Rotorua this morning.

Police are fighting to keep a sleep-driver off the road after she travelled more than 300km in five hours, but had no recollection of the journey.

A woman with a sleeping disorder managed to drive from Hamilton to Mt Maunganui via Auckland overnight - an event which police say could've had a tragic ending.

Police divers have arrived to look for the driver of a van which plunged into Tauranga Harbour yesterday, as an officer who helped save a passenger is praised.