A person has died after a car and truck collided just out of Tauranga on Sunday afternoon as New Zealand's road toll hits a four-year high.
Police said the driver of the car that collided with a truck has died.
The crash happened at 3:55pm near the intersection of Omokoroa Rd on State Highway 2 near Whakamārama.
The truck driver was unharmed, police said.
This latest fatal crash comes after a person died and two others were critically injured in a crash near Levin on Sunday morning.
With nearly two weeks still to go, Ministry of Transport figures show this year's provisional road toll sits at 359 deaths.
That's 59 more deaths than all of last year and more than any year since 2018 when 360 people died.
The grim figures come as Aotearoa aims for no road deaths under the ambitious Road to Zero campaign.
"It's not just a number, each person that's killed on the road had a family, a life that's been lost, and we see all the devastating consequences that their loved ones will be going through," Brake NZ spokesperson Caroline Perry told Newshub.
With the Christmas and New Year road toll to begin at 4pm on Friday, road safety advocates are urging people to take care on the roads.
"Every time you get in your vehicle just think about the fact that you are driving and it requires 100 percent of your concentration, 100 percent of the time," Perry said
