Emergency services at the scene of a fatal crash on Broadlands Rd between Rotorua and Taupō.
A person has been killed and another seriously injured in a crash that shut down a popular rural highway between Rotorua and Taupō yesterday afternoon.
The collision happened on a straight stretch of Broadlands Rd, 300m north of the intersection with East Rd, near Reporoa.
Emergency services including rescue helicopterswere called to the crash at 4.05pm.
One driver died at the scene.
Police at the scene of a cordon on Broadlands Rd, where a person was killed in a crash. Photo / Ben Fraser
The death came after a horror road toll for the Rotorua and Taupō regions in 2018.
Eleven people lost their lives on Rotorua roads, and 15 in Taupō.
The collision happened on a straight stretch of Broadlands Rd, 300m north of the intersection with East Rd, near Reporoa. Photo / Ben Fraser
Rotorua's road toll nearly tripled from just four deaths in 2017 to the highest it had been for several years.
Yesterday's was not the first life lost on Broadlands Rd, a popular rural route for locals keen to avoid traffic and congestion on State Highway 5.
In April 2017, 77-year-old Malcolm Furgus Gillanders-Ryan, a former engineer, was driving home when he crossed the centre line and collided with an oncoming vehicle.
He died from a head injury. The other driver survived.
Emergency services at the scene of a serious crash on Broadlands Rd between Rotorua and Taupō. Photo /Ben Fraser
Two months later, a man died after the vehicle he was driving hit a bank and rolled. The crash happened on the stretch of country road near White Rd.
Meanwhile, the national 2018 road toll rose to 382 following the death of a passenger in a crash last month.
The 29-year-old man died at Wellington Regional Hospital on Saturday after being seriously injured in a car crash on December 20 in Nelson.
