Two men are dead following a crash between a motorcycle and a truck just south of Tauranga this morning.

They may not be able to exchange wedding rings, but a couple who survived a four-car smash will be united forever by matching scars.

Two Auckland men were critically injured when their car was cut in two in a high-speed head-on collision with a truck yesterday.

Alcohol and speed appear to have been factors in a crash which left two people critically injured on Auckland's North Shore today, police say.

Roads and vehicles must be "more forgiving" to curb a road toll which averages more than one death a day, the AA says. Figures released by the Ministry of Transport today show 371 people died on the roads over the past year.

Police have named the 19-year-old who died when he was thrown out of a car as it plunged 25 metres down a cliff at the Pinewoods Motor Park in Red Beach, north of Auckland, early this morning.

The death of a 15-year-old driver who fled from police this morning was 'completely avoidable', say police. Timoti Mohi was driving a stolen car when he failed to stop for police and drove off at speeds of up to 180km/h.

Campers at a coastal campground north of Auckland are in shock after a teenager was thrown out of a car as it plunged 25 metres down a cliff at the campground early this morning.

Alcohol and speed contributed to more than half the 13 deaths on New Zealand roads over the holiday period.

The holiday road toll stands at 13, the same as last year, following two fatal crashes in Auckland overnight.

An elderly man is dead after his car swerved into a park van in Papakura, south of Auckland - but he may not be added to the holiday road toll, which now stands at 11.

A fleeing driver was taken to hospital after crashing near central Auckland.