An Auckland teenage driver has appeared in court today charged with causing the death of a passenger who died after he was impaled on a metal rod.

Crossing the road is among the most dangerous of everyday activities - and police say even the slightest loss of concentration could have disastrous, if not fatal, results.

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

A rockfall at Ruamahunga Bay on the Thames Coast Road SH25 has closed the road overnight and another large slip has disrupted traffic on the Karangahake Gorge road SH2. Video / Facebook - Thames-Coromandel District Council

Kiwi motorists are among the most likely to die on roads, despite having one of the more frequent road-testing regimes in the world, reports show.

Most boy racers seem to be learning their lesson, with only 127 convictions for illegal street racing being racked up by repeat offenders over the past three years.

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

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

Two young girls in trouble last week after crashing their parents' cars are unlikely to face charges.

Parents are being urged to hide their car keys after two young sisters took their parents' cars and crashed into each other.

Roads up and down the country are moving relatively smoothly as holidaymakers head home following the Christmas and New Year break.

One woman is dead after a car she was a passenger in left the road and crashed into a tree this afternoon.

Overseas drivers were involved in more than 400 crashes on New Zealand roads last year, and failure to keep left, poor handling and fatigue the leading causes of deadly crashes.

Who is your driver tonight? That's the question police want all New Year partygoers to consider - before the celebrations begin.

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 motorist travelling at 135km/h in the central North Island is among bad drivers caught by a police "eye in the sky".