A man has handed himself in after a crash left live power lines dangling over the rear entrance of the Huntly Fire Station.

The number of people killed on our roads this year is the lowest since 1950, down 17 per cent on the previous year.

A motorcyclist has died just off State Highway 1 north of Bulls this morning, taking the holiday road toll to six.

One person is dead after a bus and car collided in Hamilton today, bringing the holiday road toll to five.

A mother trapped in a rolled van was asking rescuers about her baby daughter as she slipped in and out of consciousness. The 11-month-old girl died hours later.

As holiday revellers take to the roads today, police are warning motorists to take their time, be patient and steer clear of the booze.

Travellers are being urged to avoid the east coast of the Coromandel as heavy rain has brought flooding to many coastal communities, police say.

A taxi driver feels lucky to have escaped death after his car was swept away by the swollen Silver Stream near Dunedin.

Two people have been seriously injured in two separate crashes in Auckland early today.

A drunk driver who fled the scene of an early morning crash in Waikato could be seriously injured and police are "seriously concerned" about his whereabouts.

Police are calling on motorists to take extra care over the holiday period, following a weekend that saw two people killed, several seriously injured, and two others rescued from a car hanging in a tree.

Two people had to be rescued from a vehicle that was left hanging sideways from a tree down a sheer bank after it crashed off a rural Coromandel road yesterday afternoon.

Two people were seriously injured when a car rolled on Masters Road in Waiuku last night. Three fire appliances attended the crash.

A man was critically injured when a car crashed into a pole and rolled on Tamaki Drive in Auckland this morning.

A motorcyclist died following a collision with a car on the Rimutaka Hill Rd near Featherston around yesterday.

The family of a woman who died in a crash on the West Coast on Monday don't know how to tell her youngest children their mum won't be coming home for Christmas.

A toddler involved in a crash which killed his mother and brother yesterday could also have been killed, had it not been for the heroic actions of members of the public, police say.

A young Tongan family who moved to the West Coast for the promise of a better life have been torn apart just days before Christmas.

A police official says at least 21 people were killed and 20 others were injured when a bus plunged from an elevated highway and onto a van in Manila.

'Not knowing whether they're going to survive is stressful,' says a man who hit a woman on a pedestrian crossing. The pair now want to prevent similar accidents.

A Christchurch man has been taken to hospital after crashing his car into a tree in Bromley, Christchurch this morning.

An Auckland man has suffered a broken leg following a hit-and-run incident in West Auckland this morning.

Five people have been taken to hospital after a car crashed into a bar in south Auckland in the early hours of this morning.

The man killed in an early morning crash near Te Poi in Waikato on Wednesday was Grant Scott Gilmer of Tauranga, police say.