Queen's birthday road toll: Three dead on New Zealand's roads, equals 2020

The country's Queen's Birthday weekend road toll has ended at three, equalling the number of people who died on the nation's roads over the same public holiday last year.

The official Queen's Birthday holiday period for 2021 began at 4pm on Friday, June 4, and ended at 6am today.

The first crash happened about 3am on Sunday in Waterview, Auckland, when a ute smashed sideways into a traffic light pole at the intersection of Alford St and Great North Rd.

One occupant died and two others were injured, one seriously while the other had minor injuries.

A witness said the ute's canopy appeared to have been torn off the vehicle and wreckage was strewn across the road.

The ute was so embedded in the pole that heavy lifting equipment had to be used to peel it off.

A man then died in a crash on SH85, Morrisons-Kyeburn Rd, in Waitaki after a ute and a motorcycle collided.

Three other people were also injured and a rescue helicopter was sent to the scene.

It's understood the rider, believed to be from mid-Canterbury, was taking part in the annual Brass Monkey motorcycle rally - involving thousands of avid riders - which was also held in Central Otago over the long weekend.

And one person died after a two-car crash on State Highway 3 in Waikato's Te Mapara.

A crash which claimed four lives after a truck and van crashed near Ashburton on Friday morning happened before the road toll began, so their deaths are not counted in the toll.