Holiday road toll remains at three

Fatal Christmas crash 'totally avoidable'

The holiday road toll remained at three this evening, with all the victims in the upper North Island.

The first crash happened at 8pm on Christmas Eve - four hours into the official holiday period - when a car flipped and ended up in a ditch on Gun Club Rd on the outskirts of Pukekohe leaving the woman driver dead. Her name has not yetbeen released

Early on Christmas morning a man was killed in a crash police have linked to speed and alcohol.

David James Hill, 23, died when the car in which he was a passenger crashed into a bank on Tainui Rd, 15km north of Morrinsville.

The driver was taken to Waikato Hospital where he remained in a critical condition today.

"Initial indications are that speed and alcohol were factors in the crash and neither man was wearing seatbelts," said Senior Sergeant Bruce Lyon, of the Waikato serious crash unit.

"It appears Mr Hill's injuries would have been survivable and the driver's less severe if the pair had been wearing their seatbelts."

The third victim was an 86-year-old man who died after a crash while on his way to deliver a car load of presents to members of his family yesterday afternoon.

Mr Lyon said that James Philip Vesey failed to give way at an intersection and pulled into the path of a southbound car on State Highway 1b at Gordonton, northeast of Hamilton.

Mr Vesey's car was struck in the rear spinning it into the path of a northbound car.

Mr Vesey initially appeared to have moderate to minor injuries, but his condition deteriorated on his way to hospital and he died.

The drivers of the other two vehicles were shaken but unhurt.

Mr Lyon said it was frustrating for police to have to deal with such avoidable tragedies.

He said speed, alcohol and driver inattention were three factors that meant Christmas would never be the same for the families of those killed or injured.

Land Transport Agency figures show Boxing Day is the start of the most dangerous part of the holiday period.

Boxing Day deaths in the past have reached as high as 12, up from an average of seven.

The official Christmas-New Year holiday road toll period runs from 4pm on Christmas Eve until 6am on January 5.

Last year's toll was 18 dead and 65 seriously injured from 16 crashes.

- NZPA