Easter weekend toll rises to seven, one person is critical

The Easter road toll is already seven, almost double the combined Easter toll of four from 2019 and 2020.

The latest 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.

Two others suffered minor injuries and are being treated at the scene.

The road remains closed.

At the other end of the North Island, a driver died of his injuries in hospital after hitting a power pole on Tasman Rd in Ōtaki, Kāpiti Coast, around 9:30 pm last night.

In nearby Wellington, 30 minutes later, a male pedestrian was killed after colliding with a bus on Taranaki St.

Police spent the night examining the scene and the road did not reopen until shortly after 7 a.m. this morning.

A police spokesman said it was a “fairly significant” accident scene in terms of the size of the area and that it took some time to process.

A spokesperson for the Greater Wellington Regional Council confirmed that the vehicle involved was a Metlink bus, but said they could not provide further details as the matter was in the hands of the police.

Earlier on Saturday, a motorcycle and a car collided in Waimangu, south of Rotorua.

One person was killed and another injured in the collision on SH38 at the intersection with Okaro Rd around 11 a.m.

On Good Friday, Kellie Jane Greer, 49, of Tauranga, was killed in a car accident at an intersection of State Highways 30 and 32 near Whakamaru. Greer was the driver of one of the vehicles.

One of the vehicles caught fire after the accident at the intersection at noon.

On Thursday night, a man died at SH2 in Mangatawhiri, 60 kilometers south of Auckland.

The victim was Kalam Safari Watkin-Mamode, 22, who lived in Mangatawhiri.

About 90 minutes earlier Thursday, at 8 p.m., a person was killed in an accident involving a truck and a car on SH27 in the Waikato settlement of Kaihere.

Three others received moderate injuries in the accident.

This afternoon in South Auckland, a person was taken to Middlemore Hospital in critical condition after a car accident in Papakura.

Emergency services responded to the accident at the intersection of Liverpool St and Settlement Rd around 2.30pm.

Motorists have been told to avoid the area.

The seven deaths mark an increase over the Easter highway toll last year when no deaths were recorded while the country was on a level 4 lockdown to stop the spread of Covid-19.

In 2019, the New Zealand Easter Highway toll was four.