Floyd Roscoe was a policeman, volunteer chief fire officer and corporal in the Territorial Army.
On Sunday the father of three had finished a day of Fire Service training in Rotorua and was making his way to Waiouru for Territorial training when his blue Toyota anda Honda CRX collided head-on 10km south of Taupo.
Mr Roscoe was cut from his car and taken to Waikato Hospital but died shortly after arriving.
He was one of three people to die. Daniel Ruru, 28, of Hamilton and Michael Morrison-Ruru, 14, also of Hamilton, who were travelling in the Honda, were also killed. A 30-year-old passenger in the Honda, understood to be Michael's father, suffered moderate injuries.
Yesterday, as details of the accident emerged, the exceptional life of Mr Roscoe was revealed.
The 45-year-old's main job was as a Senior Constable in the police, where he was an instructor in staff safety and tactical training at the Auckland Harbour Bridge centre.
He had been in the Territorials since 1976, where he held the rank of corporal and served a tour in Bougainville in 1999. He was awarded a number of medals including the Operational Service Medal.
He was volunteer chief fire officer at the Greenhithe Fire Station. Auckland Assistant Regional Fire Commander David Neil described Mr Roscoe as "one of those special people".
"He was passionate about what he did and highly respected. We're going to miss him heaps."
Police colleagues spoke of a "well-known and well-respected" officer, while the Army described his service as long and loyal.
Mr Roscoe is one of 410 people to die on the roads this year - six more than for the whole of last year.
Transport Minister Paul Swain is due this morning to announce a series of measures around driver education to tackle the road toll.
The Government has set a target of no more than 300 road deaths each year by 2010.
