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

Motorists heading out of the city are being urged to be patient following a four-car crash on Auckland's northern motorway.

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.

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.

A courier van lost control and crashed into a barrier on a Hutt Valley motorway this morning.

A study for Auckland Transport has calculated the "social cost" of cycle crashes for the region's biking routes.

A car has crashed into a McDonald's restaurant in Wairau Valley in Auckland. The 65-year-old driver was treated for minor injuries but was not taken to hospital.

Seven people were taken to hospital with broken bones, cuts and abrasions after the van they were in crashed into a drain yesterday afternoon.

The parents of a 3-year-old boy who was hit by a reversing car at a Raglan boat ramp this morning have praised the quick response of members of the public.

A split-second decision to accelerate away from a parked police car caused the motorcycle deaths of two men south of Wellsford, a coroner has found.

A 20-year-old motorcyclist killed in Ruawai last night was not wearing a helmet.

A Wellington man has pleaded not guilty to careless driving over a car crash which killed his partner's unborn child.

Two male German tourists working in New Zealand were critically hurt in a crash in the Cromwell Gorge last night.