Eighty people died in road smashes during January and February - 18 more than at the same time last year.
The provisional toll for February was 42. But safety chiefs say the road toll is still on track to dip under 500 for the second year in a row.
Automobile Association Driver Education Foundation chairman Bob Lester, said the extra deaths showed that "higher fines and shock horror television campaigns" were obviously not working.
But Land Transport Safety Authority spokesman Craig Dowling said it was too early to say if a trend was emerging. Even at the current rate, the toll was tracking for about 485, which would be the second-best year since 1964.
By last Friday, when the toll stood at 77, police had found speed to be a factor in 19 deaths, fatigue in eight and alcohol in seven. Twenty-six people had died in head-on smashes and another 25 in single-vehicle loss-of-control accidents, which are usually caused by speed or tiredness.
Police estimated that seven out of 13 people who died without wearing seatbelts would have lived had they buckled up.
Although just 59 people died in the first two months of last year, 94 had died by the same time in 1998.
Road toll at 80 after two months
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