Holiday Road Toll at 13

Thirteen people have lost their lives on New Zealand roads this holiday period.

National Road Policing Manager, Superintendent Paula Rose said she was saddened by the deaths but was heartened that so many motorists had paid attention to the safety messages, reduced their speed and made good decisions while driving over the holidays.

"My heart goes out to those families affected by these deaths," Superintendent Rose said.

"However, I am pleased that so many motorists showed restraint and good judgement and abided by the road rules."

This is the third lowest holiday road toll since 1980. In 2006/2007, 9 people were killed, a record low, and in 2004/2005 there were 11 people killed. Last year 13 people also died on the roads. The highest toll was in 2008/2009 when 25 people lost their lives in the holiday period.

The official road toll is counted from 4pm on Friday 24 December till 6am Wednesday 5 January.

Overnight there have been two further deaths, a 15 year driver who was fleeing from police died on Auckland's southern motorway. The pursuit had been abandoned at the time of the crash. The other fatality was of a 19 year old who was a passenger in a campervan which went off a cliff face in a campsite north of Auckland.

This year, of the 13 dead, there were:
10 men and 3 women
5 drivers
2 motocycle riders
5 passengers
1 pedestrian
6 in the 15-24 age group.

Thus far:
6 of the crashes had suspected alcohol as a factor (54%)
7 of the crashes had speed as a factor (63%)
2 of the crashes, driver inatttention suspected
9 of the 11 dead were killed on open roads where the speed limit is 100km/hr