One person is dead after a two-car crash on a rural road near Hastings on Saturday.
The crash happened on Raukawa Rd, about 40 metres south of the Burma Rd intersection, south of Bridge Pa.
It took the 2020 provisional road toll in the police Napier Hawke's Bay area of Napier, Hastings and Central Hawke's Bay to 12, four more than at the same stage of last year, and the highest to the end of July for at least five years.
The crash, on a rural road which is often busy on fine weekends - including Saturday when at least 100 motorcycles had passed through 1-2 hours before the tragedy - was one of at least three crashes or other incidents attended by emergency services on road in the Napier-Hastings area during the weekend.
They included one in which a car left the road, wrecked a roadside electricity transformer and cut power supply to about 17 suburban Napier homes for more than six hours.
The transformer in Balliol Ave, Pirimai, was hit just after 11.20pm on Saturday and Unison Networks crews worked until after 6am Sunday to complete the replacement, company customer relationships manager Danny Gough said.
It came just three months after another transformer was demolished by a car in neighbouring suburb Onekawa, the driver and the car disappearing from the scene before police arrived and leaving behind damage costing more than $40,000 to repair.
Police national media staff were unable to provide further information relating to the vehicle in the latest crash nor its occupants on Sunday.
A resident, who was among those without electricity, said skid marks and the sound of the crash indicated excessive speed were involved.
It was the third of three crashes in Napier on Saturday night, following a car's deviation into a fence off York Ave, Tamatea, just after 7.20pm, and a vehicle hitting a pole at the intersection of Latham St and Nuffield Ave, in Marewa, Napier, about 9.30pm.
A person was also reported by police to have suffered minor injuries after an incident involving a man and a motorbike on Taradale Rd, Napier, on Sunday afternoon.