Last year New Zealand recorded its second lowest road toll in 50 years, with the deaths of young people significantly stemmed, police say.

The road toll for the year stands at 318 - more than 40 higher than the 2011 tally.

Two people were taken to Whangarei Hospital by ambulance following a road crash on State Highway 1 this morning.

A truck driver's come away from a crash in Counties Manukau unscathed.

Police are reminding drivers to refrain from driving if they have been drinking and drive within the speed limits after a 22-year-old man was killed last night on the roads.

A 23-year-old man from North Canterbury is in a critical condition after being thrown from his vehicle when it crashed into a pole. The accident happened in Harwarden, near Lake Sumner Forest Park, just after midnight on Thursday.

A 16-year-old is in critical condition in hospital after a car left the road and rolled down a bank on Christmas morning.

Heavy lifting cranes are on their way to the scene of a milk tanker crash that is blocking State Highway 3 in the lower North Island.

A young man has been killed following a serious car crash in Southland this morning.

A woman on a suspended driver's licence allegedly fled the scene of a crash which killed a 71-year-old woman who was travelling with her family on Christmas Day.

A three-year-old boy has died after being hit by a car in the driveway of a property near Taupo.

A middle aged man is dead and four others have been airlifted to hospital after two crashes in Central Hawkes Bay this morning.

No health and safety charges will be laid over a fatal car accident at a Rimu goldmine in August, in which a Hokitika boy died.

Early on the morning of May 12, 8-year-old Michelle O'Brien showed humanity, kindness, and selfless bravery when faced with the unthinkable.

Four farmhands who died in a horrific early morning crash were not wearing seatbelts and three were thrown from the "unsafe" vehicle when its roof was torn off.

A grandmother who pulled a young family from a crashed car moments before it burst into flames says she was "in the right place at the right time".

Once again, it will be easier to get a speeding ticket this Christmas.

One person has been taken to hospital following a crash between a car and a truck in Carterton this morning.

A Northland family have a quick-thinking passer-by to thank for saving their lives after a bizarre crash described by a policeman as the luckiest escape he has seen.

Statistically, Dunedin is New Zealand's worst city for motor vehicle crashes and casualties - but Palmerston North, Hamilton and Napier aren't far behind.

The family of the woman found dead along with her partner and three children in the wreckage of their crashed car near Tokoroa have spoken of their grief.

The two Indian men who were killed in a crash near Tokoroa yesterday have been named as a father and son from Jharkhand in eastern India.

A 3-week-old boy died with four members of his family in a crash in the Waikato - and may have lain in the wreckage since Sunday night.