A pedestrian and motorcyclist were among the seven people killed since Thursday evening. Photos / Files
The Easter toll roads have reached seven – almost double the combined 2019 and 2020 Easter tolls of four.
The newest death is a motorcyclist who collided with a car north of Te Kao, on Far North Road or State Highway 1, around 11.30 this morning.
The other two suffered moderate injuries and were being treated at the scene.
The road remains closed.
On the other end of the North Island, a driver died of their wounds in hospital after hitting a power pole on Tasman Rd in Ōtaki, Kāpiti Beach, at around 9:30 p.m. last night.
In nearby Wellington 30 minutes later, a male pedestrian died after colliding with a bus on Taranaki Street
The police spent the night inspecting the scene and the roads didn’t reopen until after 7 this morning.
A police spokesman said it was a “significant” accident site in terms of area size and took time to process.
A spokesman for the Greater Wellington Regional Council confirmed the vehicle involved was a Metlink bus, but said they could not provide further details as the problem was with the police.
Earlier on Saturday, a motorcycle and car collided in Waimangu, south of Rotorua.
One person was killed and another injured in the collision on SH38 at the Okaro Rd intersection at around 11.00.
On Good Friday, Kellie Jane Greer, 49, a local resident of Tauranga, died in a two-car accident at the intersection of State Highway 30 and 32 near Whakamaru. Greer is the driver of one of the vehicles.
One of the vehicles caught fire after an accident at an intersection at midday.
On Thursday night, a man was killed on SH2 in Mangatawhiri, 60 km south of Auckland.
The victim was Kalam Safari Watkin-Mamode, 22, who lived in Mangatawhiri.
About 90 minutes earlier on Thursday, at 8 p.m., someone died in an accident involving trucks and cars on SH27 in the Waikato settlement of Kaihere.
Three other people were lightly injured in the accident.
In South Auckland this afternoon a person has been taken to Middlemore Hospital in critical condition following a car crash in Papakura.
Emergency services responded to the accident at the intersection of Liverpool St and Settlement Rd at around 14.30.
Motorists have been told to avoid the area.
The seven deaths marked the rise of the Easter road toll last year when no fatalities were recorded while the country was on a level-4 lockdown to stop the spread of Covid-19.
In 2019, New Zealand’s Easter highway tolls totaled four.