Two pedestrians killed in Waikato in one day

A 41-year-old man had died in hospital after being critically injured by a vehicle on a rural Waikato road, Koromatua Rd. Photo / Google

A 41-year-old pedestrian has died of his injuries after being hit by a car in the Waikato, one of two deaths in the region in just over 12 hours.

The deaths have pushed the number of pedestrians killed on Waikato roads at night to five so far this year, causing police to issue words of caution.

The Hamilton man was hit by a car on Koromatua Rd, southwest of Hamilton, about 9pm.

He was rushed to Waikato Hospital in a critical condition but later died.

The Serious Crash Unit is investigating the circumstances of the crash.

Waikato police Senior Sergeant Pete van de Wetering said it was too soon to know the cause of the crash, but said given it was a rural road lighting would have been minimal, if it all.

"It was at night, it would have been dark. I don't know precisely where it was but we're talking about a rural road so I would assume there was either no lighting or maybe a small amount of street lighting nearby ... but I'm not sure."

The man's death came less than 12 hours after another local man was killed while out walking his dog on Osborne Rd, about 500m from Horsham Downs Rd, in north Hamilton.

Van de Wetering said the circumstances of his death were different to 41-year-old killed last night, as the victim was walking on a footpath at the time.

He said although it was still being investigated, it appeared the truck had for some reason gone off the road and struck the man and his dog on the footpath before coming to a rest in a paddock.

Police serious crash, commercial vehicle safety team and CIB were all investigating, he said.

"The truck has left the road and struck the pedestrian so that obviously needs close scrutiny now."

The truck was heading east and rounded a right hand bend when the driver has lost control.

Van de Wetering described the footpath as "well-defined" of between 1.5m and 2m
from the road.

"It's in the process of leaving the road the truck drove over the footpath and ended up going through a fence and stopping in a paddock."

With the Koromatua Rd, Templeview crash, it had meant five pedestrians had so far been killed on Waikato roads at night.

"Sadly, this year, we've had five pedestrians at night on rural roads in the Waikato. It's one of those things where people who do live in the country and are walking on country roads there's a responsibility upon them as well to be very careful and to keep themselves safe and at night time, be well visible.

"Keep themselves off the road for any approaching cars because you never know. There's always a responsibility for motorists to be alert as to who else is on the road but equally we have to say, for pedestrians to be equally diligent and careful."