The battle against the road toll in Hawke's Bay

Eastern District prevention manager Senior Sergeant Dan Foley says the district had 16 fatal crashes this year. Photo File

The road toll in Hawke's Bay and Gisborne is down on last year.

That's similar to most of the country. But across the rest of the central North Island there's been a 30 per cent increase.

Of the national road toll of 365 up to midnight, 168 were in the Taranaki, Manawatu-Wanganui, Waikato and Bay of Plenty police districts — 39 more than last year.

But the toll was down by 38 across the rest of New Zealand.

But for police, other emergency services and road safety promoters the only goal is zero.

"So far in 2018 we have had 16 fatal crashes on Eastern District roads, with 19 people killed," said police Eastern District prevention manager Senior Sergeant Dan Foley.

"Police regard this as 16 crashes and 19 lives lost too many. We are doing everything we can to prevent further deaths on our roads."

Foley said police are focusing on driver distraction, drug and drink-driving, speed, and driving to the conditions. They remain concerned about the number of people not wearing seatbelts.

"These are the issue that have been identified as the greatest risk and have had an influence in a significant number of the serious injury and fatal crashes this year."

Police are particularly keen to see an extension of the better statistics.

The last fatal road accident in the five local body areas in Hawke's Bay Today's circulation area, from Wairoa to Tararua, was a motorcycle crash on State Highway 2 between Dannevirke and Norsewood mid-morning on October 27. None of this year's fatalities have been during the recognised holiday road toll periods of Christmas-New Year, Easter, Queen's Birthday Weekend, and Labour Weekend.

The last holiday-period tragedy in the area was a crash east of Waipawa about dawn on December 24 last year.

"We want this holiday period to be free from death and serious injuries on our roads," Foley said.

A record 873 people died on New Zealand roads in 1973, but that fell to 253 in 2013 - the lowest in more than 60 years.

In Hawke's Bay it dropped from 23 in 2012 to six in 2013 but bounced back to 20 in 2014.

"If I knew the answer I'd be the Commissioner of Police. But at the end of the day it's people making mistakes," Foley said.

Provisional figures provided by the Ministry of Transport show there have been 19 deaths this year on roads in the area from Wairoa district in the north to Tararua in the south. That's three fewer than the toll of 22 for all of last year, which was the highest in the area since 2012.

The four fatalities in the Wairoa district included three in a SH2 crash near Nuhaka about 8pm on June 29. The five in the Tararua area included two at a railway crossing on a rural road southwest of Woodville late on the afternoon of August 1, and a two-vehicle crash on a Sandy Rd bend near Meeanee 24 hours later caused two of the five fatalities this year in the Napier area.

Significantly, there had been just four fatalities in the Hastings district. With its greater area and the significant distances of state highways, the district usually has the highest toll in the region. Just one of the 15 fatal incidents in Hawke's Bay happened between 8pm and 6am, just three happened on a Saturday or Sunday, and 10 happened between 6.30am and 6pm on midweek days.

Among the victims were four motorcyclists and a cyclist, eight were drivers, five were passengers and one was a pedestrian.

Thirteen males and six females died; four were under 20 and five were 65 or over.