Hamilton man killed in rural crash named as Michael Fred Ruff

A 41-year-old man had died in hospital after being critically injured by a vehicle on a rural Waikato road, Koromatua Rd. Photo / Google

Police have named a 41-year-old man who died following a crash in Hamilton early this month as Michael Fred Ruff.

Ruff died from his injuries after being hit by a car in the Waikato on Wednesday, September 5, around 9pm.

He was rushed to Waikato Hospital in a critical condition but later died.

The Serious Crash Unit is investigating the circumstances of the crash.

The death made Ruff the second pedestrian killed in the region in just over 12 hours - and pushed the number of pedestrians killed on Waikato roads at night to five so far this year.

Waikato police issued words of warning following the incident.

Senior Sergeant Pete van de Wetering said it was too soon to know the cause of the crash, but said given it was a rural road lighting would have been minimal, if it all.

"It was at night, it would have been dark. I don't know precisely where it was but we're talking about a rural road so I would assume there was either no lighting or maybe a small amount of street lighting nearby ... but I'm not sure."

Ruff's death came less than 12 hours after another local man was killed while out walking his dog on Osborne Rd, about 500m from Horsham Downs Rd, in north Hamilton.

Van de Wetering said the circumstances of his death were different to Ruff's death, as the victim was walking on a footpath at the time.

He said although it was still being investigated, it appeared the truck had for some reason gone off the road and struck the man and his dog on the footpath before coming to a rest in a paddock.

Police serious crash, commercial vehicle safety team and CIB were all investigating, he said.

"The truck has left the road and struck the pedestrian so that obviously needs close scrutiny now."