Arrest after fatal hit-and-run

File photo / Thinkstock

A 24-year-old man has been arrested over the death of an elderly Wanganui woman in a hit-and-run yesterday.

Margaret Trethewey, 72, was killed instantly while out walking her dogs at about 6.45am on Montgomery Road, Wanganui. One of her dogs was also killed by the car, which appeared to have drifted off the road, police say.

The driver left the scene but the Ford Festiva hatchback then sped off towards Great North Road.

The local man has been charged with reckless driving causing death and failing to stop, and will appear in the Wanganui District Court on Monday.

Mrs Trethewey was the third person to die this weekend on the roads, as police came out in force after last weekend's horror toll of 12.

A man died when his motorcycle collided with a car in South Auckland's Clevedon Road in Papakura about 9.15pm, police say.

Police were investigating the cause of the crash.

Another man died after his car crashed into a bank in Waikato on Saturday.

When emergency services arrived at the scene the man was suffering from a heart attack, northern police communications Inspector Ian Brooker told NZPA.

It was not known if the heart attack caused the man to crash.

The accident happened on State Highway 3 at Piopio, in the Waitomo District about 10.20am.

The names of the two men have not yet been released.

- NZPA