Motorbike crash brings toll to nine

Police recover the vehicle at the scene of a fatal crash near Hastings. Photo / NZPA.

The holiday road toll has risen to nine following a crash involving two motorcycles in the Coromandel this afternoon.

The crash, reported at 12.53, happened on State Highway 25 between Coromandel town and Te Rerenga, 12km to the west.

One person has died and another has serious injuries.

SH25 is closed between Coromandel and Te Rerenga to allow helicopter access.

Traffic is already backed up and motorists are being turned around.

Serious crash investigators are en route and the road is expected to be closed for some time and police are advising motorists to plan alternative routes.

First road fatality of year named

A 35-year-old Auckland man killed in a car crash near Hastings about 1.45am yesterday was the first road fatality of 2011. Two men were in the Holden Commodore when it left the road and landed on its roof in a 3m deep ditch.

The driver, who police have today named as Tamataia Pera Maurangi, was killed, although the disoriented but uninjured 42-year-old passenger managed to escape and flag down a passing police car for help, Senior Sergeant Luke Shadbolt said. Both men were from Pt England, in Auckland, and had driven to Hastings overnight.

A second person died yesterday evening after going through the windscreen of a vehicle which crashed in the Bay of Plenty.

Today's death takes the road toll for the holiday period, which began on Christmas Eve and runs until 6am on January 5, to nine.

Last year, 13 people died on the roads during the period.

Drink, sleep, drive, and die

Meanwhile, police are warning that drinking, sleeping little then driving can kill after a Waikato crash that has left two men fighting for their lives.

The men were in a Toyota saloon which crossed the centre line at Horotiu, north of Hamilton, sliding sideways into a van carrying five handicapped teens and two able-bodied people on a New Year's Day outing.

It was part of a horror start to the 2011 road toll, with two people killed in separate accidents yesterday.

And it brought the Christmas holiday road toll to eight - three of them teenagers.

Sebastian Hirling, 16, was killed on Wednesday riding on the back of a ute driven by another 15-year-old.

Tanisha Morris, 13, died in a collison in Hawke's Bay, as did Mary-Lee Huata, 17, whose tangi began in Wairoa yesterday.

The crash at Horotiu prompted Waikato Senior Sergeant Jeff Penno to warn holidaymakers to ensure they were fit to drive before setting out.

He said speed, alcohol and driver fatigue were possible causes in the Horotiu accident.

The car driver, aged 20, tested at twice the legal blood alcohol level. He and his passenger are in Waikato Hospital's intensive care unit.

Penno said the men had camping gear in the car: "So if you've been away for the holiday weekend and hitting it hard and, say, camping at the beach, you may have had very little sleep and given yourself insufficient time for your body to rest and process what you've been drinking.

"You will be putting yourself and other road users at risk."

In Whangamata, police were dealing with a teenager who drove drunk after celebrating the New Year. The 15-year-old girl was brought into the police station yesterday after driving 168km from Auckland's North Shore, arriving about 8am.

Senior Sergeant Pete van de Wetering said the girl was on a graduated driving licence and with only six months' experience behind the wheel.

"She has driven her Ford Fiesta around the property and caused some damage, much to the concern of the property owners."

Van de Wetering said the girl was found to be well over the adult legal alcohol limit.

- with NZPA