KEY POINTS:
The holiday road toll has climbed to eight following a crash northwest of Auckland this morning.
The deceased was the only occupant of a vehicle that flipped and left the road on Old North Road in Kumeu, about 26km northwest of Auckland, about 10.15am.
Inspector Willie Taylor of
the police northern communications centre said no other vehicles were involved in the crash. Emergency services were still at the scene.
Mr Taylor said the road was the old road from Kumeu to Helensville prior to the construction of State Highway 16 and was still used by many drivers trying to avoid traffic in the area.
Meanwhile, the woman who died in the first fatal road crash of the holiday season was named.
She was 17-year-old Holley Janelle Geck, of Pukekohe, south of Auckland.
Ms Geck was killed on Christmas Eve when her car flipped and ended up in a ditch, just a few hundred metres from her home.
The accident happened at 8pm - just four hours into the official holiday period.
The second victim was killed early on Christmas morning. David James Hill, 23, died when the car in which he was a passenger crashed into a bank on Tainui Rd, 15km north of Morrinsville.
Police said initial indications were that speed and alcohol were factors in the crash.
The third victim was an 86-year-old man who died while on his way to deliver a car load of presents to members of his family on Christmas afternoon.
James Philip Vesey failed to give way at an intersection and pulled into the path of a southbound car on State Highway 1b at Gordonton, northeast of Hamilton, police said.
Mr Vesey's car was struck in the rear, and spun into the path of a northbound car.
Yesterday afternoon a volunteer firefighter died when the fire appliance he was on board crashed and rolled down a bank while travelling to an accident in northern East Cape.
St John said the man, Ray Barrett, was also a St John first response team leader for Hicks Bay, 180km north of Gisborne, where he lived.
The accident happened on State Highway 35 at Potaka, north of Hicks Bay about 4.15pm.
About the same time, three motorcycles were involved in a collision between Christchurch and Akaroa which killed three people.
The accident happened on State Highway 75 between Taitapu, about 16km southwest of Christchurch, and Motukarara, police said.
Constable Chris Jones of Selwyn police said two bikes, each carrying a pillion passenger collided near Gebbies Pass Road after one attempted to overtake a line of cars.
Both male drivers died at the scene, while one of their passengers - believed to be the rider's wife or girlfriend - died later at Christchurch hospital, the Herald on Sunday reported.
The official Christmas-New Year holiday road toll period runs from 4pm on Christmas Eve until 6am on January 5.
Last year's toll was 18 dead and 65 seriously injured from 16 crashes.
- NZPA
