Driver dies after car smashes in tree

Photo / file

A man who died after crashing his car into a tree in the Waikato was not wearing a seatbelt, police say.

Waikato road policing manager Inspector Freda Grace said police were searching for a stolen car near Ngaruawahia when they came across the single vehicle crash shortly after 4am today.

"It appears the male driver and sole occupant of a northbound car has lost control on Great South Rd, near the intersection with Havelock Rd, and collided with a tree.

"The driver, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was found alive but in an unconscious state and died a short time later in an ambulance."

Mrs Grace said work was currently underway to formally identify the man and notify his family.

"Of concern for us is today's crash is the second serious incident where a car has hit a tree in the past 24 hours.

This crash appears to have been as a result of a low speed impact and tragically, it appears that if the driver had been wearing a seatbelt, his injuries may have been survivable.

"Road safety is no accident, it comes about by people treating the roads as a social environment and recognising that person coming towards them, separated by a thin painted line on the road, is someone's mum, sister or daughter or someone's brother, husband or dad."

Mrs Grace said police would be maintaining a highly visible presence on Waikato roads this Easter and hoped to emulate the fatal free Easter Holiday period last year.