The death of a 13-year-old girl in Matamata on Tuesday pushed the summer holiday road toll to 17, the highest since 2016 when it hit 19 and significantly higher than last year's 11.
The official holiday road toll ended on Wednesday morning at 6am and is the third-highest in a decade.
The young girl died of injuries sustained in a crash on December 27, in which five other children aged 10-13 were also seriously injured.
Police issued a statement on Wednesday saying they were "disappointed" by the number of fatal crashes, many of which they say could have been avoided.
"As of 6am this morning, 17 people have lost their lives in crashes across the country and many more were injured throughout this Christmas and New Year break," Assistant Commissioner Bruce O’Brien says.
"These provisional figures are an increase from the 11 deaths over the 2020/21 period.
"Whānau and friends who lost loved ones in crashes should have been able to enjoy this holiday period with them, not planning their tangi or funeral.
"The impact on whānau, friends and communities cannot be measured when someone is killed in a road crash.
"It’s also incredibly frustrating for Police to see people losing their lives in completely preventable incidents."
Police reiterated a plea they made earlier in the week calling for drivers to take more responsibility in keeping the roads safe.
"Watch your speed and following distances, pay attention to the conditions, stop and take a break if you’re feeling tired.
"Don’t drink or take drugs and drive, wear a seatbelt, put your phone away and allow plenty of time to get where you are going- especially if you are travelling on roads you don't know."
The Christmas period alone saw a number of fatal crashes. On Christmas Eve a person died after a crash in Taupō, and there was no let-up on Christmas Day when a motorcyclist died after a crash at an intersection in Gordonton.
Another person died after a collision with a truck early on Christmas Day in Waihola. Later that night a person died after being hit by a car in New Windsor.
On Boxing Day a truck driver died after a collision on Lewis Pass Rd.
The New Year got off to a devastating start - just four hours into 2022 Auckland schoolboy Joshua Hartner was hit in Omaha in north Auckland, the first life of the New Year to be lost on New Zealand's roads.
Hartner, 17, was known to the driver of the car that hit him.
Just an hour later came the second fatality of the New Year - a person killed in a crash at an intersection in New Plymouth.
The summer road toll comes on the back of another deadly year on the roads when 319 people lost their lives. Not even a lengthy lockdown in Auckland could dampen the figures.
"Even with the pandemic and lockdowns of the last two years we have sadly and disappointingly not been able to get back below that mark of 300 annual road deaths," AA policy and research manager Simon Douglas said.
The Government has set a target to reduce road deaths by 40 percent by 2030, but the AA says more work needs to be done.
"We need to work harder and attack those key strategies. Safer roads, safer drivers, safer speeds, more enforcement and that will get us to our target," Douglas said.
He says too many lives are lost on our roads, especially when compared with Australia.
"They’re down to around four deaths per 100,000km driven. Some of the European countries we look to are down two or three. Ours at just over six, it’s too high."
Half of fatal crashes involve extreme and reckless behaviour. The other half involve people having a momentary lapse or mistake. He's calling for more vigilance on the roads and more from those who enforce the rules.
"We’ve seen a steady drop in the number of breath tests being undertaken by police from 3 million down to about 1.5 million and we really need to get that back up again because we know that alcohol was a factor in about 25 percent of the deaths on the roads."
