Weather adds to grim toll

Queen's Birthday weekend's dark weather contributed to a record road toll of nine deaths. Police said the holiday toll was the worst in 13 years.

The Desert Road was closed on Sunday because of icy conditions and the Central Plateau was also shrouded in fog between Waiouru and Turangi last night.

Police advised that speed should be reduced drastically as visibility fell to just metres.

Three people died last Queen's Birthday.

Road policing operations manager Inspector Peter McKay said police were still investigating the causes of the crashes. "Obviously the weather may be a factor in some. We've had a number of single-vehicle, loss of control-type collisions. It's a little early to be saying that we're facing anything more than a bad period. Certainly if it continues to rise then we'd have some cause for concern."

He advised motorists to drive to the conditions, slow down and wear their seat belts. "It's important to remember that these are not just numbers, these are actually people and that each one of these is a tragedy.

"Ultimately we all have a responsibility. It is disappointing - a lot of people have done a lot of hard work to make roading in New Zealand safer, the police included."

A 36-year-old man became the ninth person to die after his car rolled into a ditch in Rangiora, Canterbury, on Saturday.

Yesterday morning an 18-year-old man died when his car hit a power pole in the Hakataramea Valley near Waimate.

Three people died in two separate accidents on Sunday. A truck driver and a pedestrian were killed on State Highway I near Ohakea and another person was killed in a crash on Auckland's Southern Motorway.

Four people died when two cars collided on State Highway 30 east of Benneydale on Saturday.