KEY POINTS:
The holiday road toll stood at eight last night after a crash northwest of Auckland yesterday morning.
The dead person was the only occupant of a vehicle that flipped and left the road on Old North Rd in Kumeu about 10.15am.
A husband and wife and another
man killed in a motorcycle crash east of Christchurch around 4.20pm on Saturday were Martyn Hartley, 48, Kaye Hartley, 35, and Nigel Hannington, 44, all from Christchurch.
They died after the accident on State Highway 75 between Tai Tapu, about 16km southwest of Christchurch, and Motukarara.
A motorcycle heading towards Christchurch appeared to have overtaken a number of vehicles on a sweeping bend, before colliding with one of three oncoming motorcycles, said Acting Sergeant Chris Jones.
Both motorcycles that collided were carrying pillion passengers.
Mr Hartley and Mr Hannington died at the scene. Mrs Hartley, a passenger, later died in Christchurch Hospital. Another female passenger remained in a critical condition, Mr Jones said.
Also on Saturday afternoon, a volunteer firefighter was killed when the fire truck he was on rolled down a bank while travelling to an accident in northern East Cape.
St John said the man, Ray Barrett, was also a St John first response team leader for Hicks Bay, 180km north of Gisborne, where he lived.
The young woman who died in the first fatal road crash of the holiday season has been named as 17-year-old Holley Janelle Geck, of Pukekohe.
Ms Geck was killed on Christmas Eve when her car flipped and ended up in a ditch, just a few hundred metres from her home.
Early on Christmas Day, David James Hill, 23, died when the car in which he was a passenger crashed into a bank on Tainui Rd, 15km north of Morrinsville.
Also on Christmas Day, 86-year-old James Philip Vesey was killed when his vehicle and another collided at an intersection on State Highway 1B at Gordonton, northeast of Hamilton.
Mr Vesey was on his way to deliver presents to members of his family.
The road toll for the year stood last night at 354, on course for the lowest total in more than 50 years.
- NZPA