Police said emergency services were called to the scene of the crash on Gordonton Rd, also known as State Highway 1B, about 5.20pm.
While it was too early to say what caused the crash, initial investigations indicated a Nissan Bluebird car travelling north had crossed the centre line, into the path of a Mazda Tribute station wagon travelling south.
The sole male occupant of the Nissan died in the crash.
The two women travelling in the Mazda were taken to Waikato Hospital by ambulance.
One was in a critical but stable condition after undergoing surgery overnight. The second woman was suffering from minor to moderate injuries.
The Waikato Serious Crash Unit continued with a scene examination today.
Waikato Police were also concerned after snapping motorists clocking speeds of up to 176 km/h this morning.
Earlier yesterday, a male driver in his 60s died after a truck went down a bank near Maronan Road in Ashburton shortly after 4.30pm.
Finally a motorcyclist died following a crash in Tokoroa.
The crash between the motorbike and a car happened at 3.05pm at the intersection of Pateke Place and Kereru St.
Police said the motor cyclist was seriously injured in the collision and died a short time later.
Figures released by the New Zealand Transport Agency showed it had spent over $8 million on a variety of online, digital, print, radio, television and out of home road safety advertising for the year ended 2015.
Transport Agency spokesman Andy Knackstedt said New Zealand's road safety campaign was one relatively small part of a much broader effort to reduce deaths and serious injuries on roads.
He said a joint advertising and enforcement campaign between police and the Transport Agency has been running continuously since 1995.
"The annual investment in road safety advertising supports a much larger investment in road policing of around $300 million per year, in addition to several hundred million dollars invested in improving and maintaining the safety of our roads and roadsides," he said.
Mr Knackstedt said the national road safety advertising campaign was one part of a much broader effort to reduce deaths and serious injuries on the roads, including police enforcement, promoting the purchase of safer vehicles and ongoing investment in safer roads and roadsides to prevent simple mistakes from resulting in deaths or injuries.
National Manager for Road Policing, Super Intendant Steve Greally, said safety advertisements were a "necessary tactic".
Mr Greally said police were focusing on using social media to spread safety messages.
The Transport Agency's data showed $62,000 was spent on social media advertising in the year ended 2015.
"The New Zealand Transport Agency works with New Zealand Police when we are going over these advertisements about what we should advertise.
"It's not just through main stream media... we're also thinking about social media because it's not always young people who are causing the carnage on our roads, anybody can do it by making a stupid decision.
"However, if we want to target young people in terms of getting the message through it's more and more through social media as the way to do it.
"So many young people have got mobile phones and applications galore. That's the smart way to do it and we are doing that.
"We get a lot of dialogue with young people that way which is great. But for all the advertising in the world you can't account for some people's decision making."
Mr Greally said yesterday's road toll was "really disappointing".
"We can't be everywhere so we rely on decision making ability of our drivers to make better decisions. Most people do a fantastic job... and they're applauded.
"But it just takes one person to create carnage and grief for a family for life. The really disappointing thing that people probably underestimate is the adverse effect on families. Understanding the human toll here is what we really want to get across."
