There's been a tragic end to the year for three families after two more crashes overnight took the holiday road toll to 15.
One fiery crash in Christchurch killed two and put a further three people in hospital.
A road safety campaigner says the new Government needs to rethink the strategy for reducing the road toll.
The aftermath of a horrific smash in Christchurch was captured on camera - of the burning, smoking ruins of a crash involving two cars and a motorcycle.
Two are dead, three more are in hospital, and one is fighting for their life.
The crash happened on an open road overpass just after midnight - it's the bypass that connects the Lyttelton Tunnel to Christchurch City.
Bystanders said one of the vehicles was on the wrong side of the road, smashing head-first into the other car and also hitting a motorcycle.
This is the latest horror smash in a grim count so far this holiday period.
There have been 13 crashes spread far and wide across the country, killing 15 people in total - and there are still three days left in the Christmas holiday period.
"We have to continue to improve our roads and our cars because the drivers aren't getting any better," said road safety campaigner Clive Matthew-Wilson.
Last summer 21 died over the Christmas holiday period, but at the end of 2019, only five died over the same time.
"There's an Australian study that shows that if we just put decent roadside fencing in and median barriers down our main roads in this country, we could reduce the road toll by up to 90 percent," said Matthew-Wilson.
Police have issued a warning to drivers over the busy New Year period that it's more important than ever to be safe and sober.
But Matthew-Wilson said that messaging won't change a thing.
"Years of studies show that asking people to drive safely is an expensive waste of time," he said.
On average one person dies every day on our roads. He says we'd have more chance of reducing that by making our roads safer.
