Two deaths on roads at the top of the South Island have brought the weekend road toll to four.
In the most recent incident, a man died after the car he was driving plunged into the swollen Maitai River in central Nelson about 8.25pm last night.
Police found the car and the
victim this morning. He has been named as Nigel George Palmer, 20, of Wakefield.
Four passengers escaped from the car and were helped from the water by kayakers, at least one of whom was lucky not to be hit as the vehicle crashed into the river.
Police were unsure whether the passengers got out before the vehicle was submerged. Senior Sergeant Mike Fitzsimons said all four were "incredibly lucky" to escape, particularly given it was only a two-door car. Police are continuing to investigate the incident.
The previous afternoon, a 14-year-old Nelson boy died after losing control of a motorcycle he was riding on the Rainbow Valley ski field access road.
Stephen John Dayman, of Stoke, died after the unregistered trail bike he was riding lost control on a tarsealed section of the publicly accessible road, about 5km from State Highway 63, southwest of Blenheim.
Crash investigator Senior Constable Greg Taylor said there was a vehicle coming the other way on a "very narrow piece of road". It appeared the boy tried to move left but lost control of his motorbike and left the road.
The boy was airlifted to Nelson Hospital but his condition deteriorated en route and he died on arrival.
Nelson Police road policing manager Hugh Flower said the boy's motorbike was unregistered, and he was too young to have a licence.
Two other people died on the roads on Saturday night.
Adam Stephen Paterson, 16, died when the car in which he was a passenger hit an earth bank in the Upper Hutt suburb of Maymorn at about 11.15pm on Saturday.
The car's driver, also aged 16, was treated at Hutt Hospital for minor injuries and discharged.
Preliminary inquiries indicated the driver and passenger were not wearing seatbelts when the car crashed.
Earlier, a Waikato teenager died after his motorcycle collided head-on with a car near Te Awamutu.
Kane Gary Moore, 19, of Cambridge, suffered serious injuries and died at the scene. The occupants of the car received minor injuries.
There have now been 42 deaths on New Zealand roads this year, the same number as at this time last year.
- NZPA
Two deaths on roads at the top of the South Island have brought the weekend road toll to four.
In the most recent incident, a man died after the car he was driving plunged into the swollen Maitai River in central Nelson about 8.25pm last night.
Police found the car and the
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