A person has died in a crash at Auckland's Dairy Flat taking New Zealand's holiday road toll to eight.
The two-vehicle crash happened on Kahikatea Flat Rd earlier on Tuesday.
"Police can confirm that one person has sadly died in hospital following the serious crash on Kahikatea Flat Rd, Dairy Flat this morning," a spokesperson said.
It's the second fatal crash on New Zealand roads on Tuesday. One person died after two vehicles collided on Nikau Rd, Pahiatua north of Masterton just before 5am.
Police said another person was taken to hospital with serious injuries following that crash.
This year's Christmas/New Year road toll is now double the entire 2019/2020 holiday period, where four people died on New Zealand roads.
Tuesday's crashes follow a collision in Southland on Monday afternoon where two people died.
Viliami Muru-Teutau, 20, was one of two killed in a crash in west Auckland on Boxing Day, and 24-year-old Rebecca MacAlees and her 34-year-old partner Terry Charleston were killed in a single-vehicle collision in Clevedon on Christmas Day.
Police investigations into all of the crashes are underway.
"Every death on the road means a person will never come home again to their whānau and friends," Insp Jason Homan said.
"We do not want any other families to experience such pain and loss this holiday period.
"Our officers work tirelessly every day to keep our roads safe, but we cannot control the actions of every driver, every minute of the day, and people need to take accountability for their driving behaviour.
"Road safety is something everybody must take responsibility for," Homan said.
He urged drivers to take ownership of their own safety as well as passengers, other road users, and pedestrians.
