The road toll for the holiday period this year more than doubled from 2019/20, with 11 people dying on New Zealand roads.
The toll is the worst for the holiday period, which this year stretched from 4pm on Christmas Eve to 6am today, in three years, since 2017/18 when 12 people died.
In 2019/20, four people died on New Zealand roads, with nine losing their lives in 2018/19.
There were eight fatal crashes over the holiday period, three of them double fatalities, including a single vehicle crash on Clevedon-Kawaka Rd south of Auckland on Christmas Day , a single-vehicle crash in Henderson on Boxing Day , and a two-car crash in Southland on December 28.
On December 29, there were fatal crashes in Pahiatua, in Manawatū-Whanganui, and Dairy Flat north of Auckland.
One person died in a single-vehicle crash in Harewood, Christchurch, on December 30.
On New Year’s Day, a six-year-old boy was killed in a crash in Northland, in which five more people were injured.
Yesterday, one person died in a crash on State Highway 29, in the Lower Kaimai Ranges, in Bay of Plenty.
The holiday road toll comes as 320 people died on New Zealand roads in 2020, the least amount of deaths since 2016.
However, the Ministry of Transport called the result “heartbreaking” despite a reduction in deaths from 352 in 2019, and 378 in both 2018 and 2017.
“Last year, the Government launched the Road to Zero Road Safety Strategy, with a clear commitment to prevent 750 deaths and 5600 serious injuries on New Zealand roads over the next 10 years,” Ministry of Transport Manager mobility and safety manager Helen White said.
“Road to Zero places human wellbeing at the heart of our road transport planning. It means no longer viewing the deaths on our roads as a 'toll' that we’re prepared to pay for traveling on our roads.”
In 2015 and 2016, the annual road toll was 317 and 327 respectively.
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