One person is dead and two others have life-threatening injuries after a crash in the lower North Island takes New Zealand’s road toll to a four-year-high.
The crash happened on The Avenue, Levin, State Highway 1, shortly before 4am on Sunday, police said.
One person was killed while two other suffered critical injuries and were taken to hospital.
The Police Serious Crash Unit was looking into the circumstances around the crash.
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Te Manatū Waka Ministry of Transport on Saturday recorded New Zealand’s 2022 provisional road toll as 357 dead on the roads.
That was 58 more deaths than the same time in 2021 and more than any year since 2018, when 360 people had died by the same time.
NZ Police
Police director of road policing Superintendent Steve Greally says undivied roads should have a maximum 80kph speed limit.
Three hundred and seventy eight people would end up dying on New Zealand roads in 2018 which, along with 2017, was the deadliest year total since 2009.
The disturbing figures come as New Zealand strives for no road deaths under the ambitious Road to Zero campaign.
Police have previously lobbied for a 80kmh absolute maximum speed limit on roads with no protective barrier.
An April police briefing to then-Police Minister Poto Williams, released under the Official Information Act, argued that “unsafe speed limits” contributed to 60% of all deaths and serious injuries from road crashes.
National road policing manager Steve Greally previously said the 80kph limit should be a maximum for undivided roads but this should drop to 60kph for “windy, tortuous, or unsealed roads”.
Te Manatū Ministry of Transport mobility and safety manager Helen White previously said that 58% of deaths and serious injuries in the 2020-21 year were on roads where “the speed limit is higher than the safe and appropriate speed for the road”.
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