Horror Easter weekend road toll: Six deaths around North Island put fatalities three times higher than last year

The 2018 Easter weekend road toll sits at triple of last year, with six people tragically dying on the roads over the long weekend. 

The official Easter holiday period for 2018 began at 4pm Thursday, March 29 and will ended today at 6am.

The road toll included 55-year-old Denise Tito of Taupo who died after a crash in Waikato on Friday morning, two young boys, aged four and two months, who were victims in the tragic Desert Rd crash on Friday, a person who died at the scene after a truck and motorcycle crash on Saturday and two people involved in a two car collision in Northland last night.

Two people died in road accidents during the Easter holiday period last year.

The highest recent road toll was in 2009, when 384 people died on the road.

The Easter weekend deaths contribute to an already-high road toll, with 2018 looking to beat what Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter previously called a "simply shocking" 2017 road toll. 

From the beginning of the year to April 3, there have been 107 people killed on the roads (this time in 2017 it sat at 94) show figures from the Ministry of Transport . 

In the 12 months to April 3, 2018, 393 people have died on the roads. 

Only 329 people died in the same time period a year earlier. 

2017 had a total of 380 road deaths, and 2016 had 327. 

In roading statistics from NZTA , a dramatic jump can be seen in the number of driver casualties in the last 12 months. 

In the 12 months to March 29, 2017, 159 drivers died. In the same time period of 2018, 202 were killed. A jump of 43. 

Increases can also been in age groups, with the 12 months to March 23, 2018 seeing 108 people killed aged between 25-39 years, up from 68 people in 2017.

Another significant jump can been seen in the 60+ age group, where 101 died on the roads in the last 12 months to March 29, 2018, compared to 72 in the same period last year.