Three people are dead and at least five others are in hospital after another day of carnage on the nation's roads.
An 84-year-old woman died when her car collided with a ute near Bluff, 27km south of Invercargill.
Police said the woman was pulling out of a driveway
in her Ford Laser when it was struck by a southbound truck on a straight stretch on SH1 at about 1.40pm.
The woman, whose name had not been released last night, was the sole occupant of the car. The ute driver and his two passengers were uninjured.
The second death was in South Wairarapa where a man died after the motorbike he was riding left Lake Ferry Rd at 5.45pm. No other vehicles were involved.
A third person died and four were taken to Christchurch Hospital by air and road ambulance after a crash on SH7 at Hurunui, Canterbury at 7pm.
The head-on collision between a van and a four-wheel-drive occurred on the two-way Hurunui Bridge.
The dead person was believed to have been travelling in the van.
A 25-year-old vet was last night in a critical condition in Waikato Hospital after her car collided with a van in Tokoroa, South Waikato.
The woman, who sustained severe head and leg injuries, had to be cut from the wreckage. Two male occupants of the van were taken to Tokoroa Hospital with minor injuries.
"She was alive when we pulled her out of the vehicle but from what I understand she's not very well," Tokoroa Chief Fire Officer Ian Wellings said.
Meanwhile police arrested a northbound motorist who drove the wrong way through the new Johnson's Hill near Puhoi last night.
Police were alerted by other motorists soon after 8pm and a highway patrol waiting on the north side of the tunnels stopped a vehicle after a pursuit lasting less than a minute.
No vehicles were hit but the driver will face charges of driving while forbidden and dangerous driving.
