Seven people have died so far this Easter weekend - with just a day to go.
It’s a shocking return to high numbers after no deaths were recorded over Easter last year, which was during the Alert Level 4 lockdown. Before that, the only other Easter with no fatalities was in 2012.
In 2019, the New Zealand Easter road toll was four.
Yesterday a motorcyclist died in a crash with a car in the Far North, with two other people suffering moderate injuries.
There was another fatal smash involving a motorbike on Saturday at Waimangu in Bay of Plenty and another injured.
On Saturday night a person in Ōtaki died after crashing into a power pole, and a pedestrian was killed in a collision with a bus in downtown Wellington and died.
On Friday a woman died in a crash at an intersection at Whakamaru in Waikato, and a person died after a truck and car collided in Hauraki on Thursday.
On Thursday evening, a man was killed on SH2 at Mangatawhiri, 60km south of Auckland.
About 90 minutes earlier on Thursday, at 8pm, a person was killed in a crash involving a truck and a car on SH27 in the Kaihere, Waikato.
Three others received moderate injuries in the crash.
The Easter holiday period began on Thursday afternoon and runs until 6am tomorrow.