Queen's Birthday Holiday road toll slashed to 3 after last year's record crash deaths

A person died in a crash in Canterbury last night bringing the Queen's Birthday Holiday road toll to three. Photo / via google maps

The official holiday road toll has ended with three people losing their lives on the country's roads, one of the lowest in recent years.

It's a drastic improvement on last year's record toll when 11 people died.

Police today praised drivers for the reduction in the road toll, particularly as bad weather hit the north on Friday.

"We were a bit nervous going into the weekend with some bad weather forecast for the north of the country, but overall we're pleased with the way drivers have taken their time and driven to the conditions," said acting national manager of road policing Inspector Kelly Ryan.

​​Although three people had lost their lives, police were pleased it was much fewer than last year, she said.

The latest fatal crash happened yesterday evening at Morven, Canterbury, where two cars collided at an intersection on SH1.

The first person, a pedestrian, died near Napier on Friday after he was struck by a car on SH2 just north of the city's airport.

He was 22-year-old Jonathan Knuiman from Napier.

A teenager was killed Saturday afternoon when a car with five people inside went over a bank on SH35 north of Te Araroa on the East Cape.

A baby was also injured in the crash and flown to hospital.

Last Queen's Birthday weekend 11 people died on New Zealand roads. It was the highest toll for a Queen's Birthday weekend in 27 years.

However, although this weekend's road toll is lower, 2017 has been an overall deadlier year on the roads.

A total of 138 people have been killed on the roads as of June 2, 2017, higher than the 124 killed by the same date last year.