Police name man killed in Christmas Day crash

Police have named the man killed in a Waikato crash early on Christmas Day.

He was Paul Lawrence McLaughlin, 31, from Ngaruawahia.

He is so far the only person killed on the country's roads during the official holiday period.

Mr McLaughlin was thrown from his car after it clipped a guardrail, crossed the centreline and crashed eight metres down a steep bank on State Highway 1, at Hopuhopu, 3km southwest of Taupiri, about 1.20am.

He was taken to Waikato Hospital, but died.

No other vehicles were involved in the crash and Mr McLaughlin was the only person in the car.

The official holiday road toll period began at 4pm on Thursday and runs until 6am, January 5.

Four people died in crashes on Thursday before the official road toll period began.

A man in his 50s was killed in a crash near Huntly in the afternoon about the same time as two people were killed when a 4WD vehicle crashed into a power pole on the remote East Cape.

One person died earlier in a crash near Napier on the expressway to Hastings.

Holiday road toll (4pm December 24th - 6am January 5th)

- NZPA