Edwin Kidwell cannot remember his mother. But her death when he was 3 has had a "dark" impact on his life.

They should never have been on the bus. But a mix-up with their booking led to 36 people hopping aboard a dilapidated coach that would become a death-trap.

Waikato police say the consequences of poor decision making are readily apparent as officers investigate the death of a young man early this morning.

A three-year-old boy is in critical condition following a hit-and-run in South Auckland this morning.

A man remains in critical condition after he was cut from the wreckage of his car following a serious crash in Southland.

A New Zealand woman described as a pharmacological nightmare will be deported from Australia after running over and killing two teenage boys while high on prescription medication.

The teenager driving in the fatal Bethlehem College crash would not have been legally allowed to drive the ill-fated van.

The driver of a Fonterra milk tanker that ended up in a ditch at an intersection outside Kaitaia on Sunday morning is to be charged with careless driving.

New Zealand police will inform Kenyan authorities that the driver of a minivan that crashed killing four people was an 18-year-old Kiwi, not a local man.

A normal start to the school year is expected at Tauranga's Bethlehem College today.

A driver died when his vehicle plunged 60 metres down a bank in northern Hawkes Bay, and another motorist had a lucky escape when he jumped out of his truck only minutes before it was destroyed by flames yesterday.

The ten children of a couple killed in a mini-van accident in Kenya on January 15 have paid tribute to their parents at a funeral service at Bethlehem College this morning.

Police have reopened State Highway 7 following a crash shortly before 1pm yesterday in which a motorcyclist heading to the annual Woodstock Rally near Hokitika was killed.

More than 2,000 people are expected to attend a funeral in Tauranga this morning for the husband and wife who died in a road crash in Kenya.

A truck driver was unaware his moving trailer had been engulfed in flames until he heard a loud explosion and looked in his rear-view mirror.

A teenager was found dead after being flung from a Mercedes Benz when it crashed off Te Mata Peak in Hawke's Bay yesterday morning.

A man has died after a car plunged 150m down Te Mata Peak in Hawkes Bay.

Four of the Bethlehem College students involved in a fatal minibus crash in Kenya have been reunited with family and friends.

Eight people were taken to hospital after a stolen car crashed into another vehicle containing six people near where a police patrol had stopped to speak to a cyclist.

The first members of a Tauranga school group are due home from Kenya today as funeral preparations continue for three of their colleagues killed on the trip.

Two children and their parents are in hospital after a horrific crash near Taupo.