24 HOURS, 3 ROAD DEATHS | Northland News | Local News in Northland

A six-week respite in the carnage on Northland roads has come to an abrupt end with the death of three people in separate crashes, pushing the region's road death toll up to 31  this year.

It's the highest annual number of highway fatalities since 30 were killed on the region's roads in 2004 and Northland road policing manager, Inspector Clifford Paxton, yesterday pleaded with motorists to drive safely so the death toll would rise no higher before the year ended.

RoadSafe Northland safety co-ordinator Gillian Archer described the increasing death toll as horrific and urged motorists to take care so the region's 36 road fatalities in 2002 was not exceeded this year.

Before December started with three fatalities, the last road death in Northland was on October 14.
 The 2008 regional toll was matched when police said a 25-year-old woman, seriously injured when the vehicle she was driving hit a tree in Stanners Rd, off State Highway 10, about 11km northwest of Kerikeri, on Friday, died in Auckland Hospital early yesterday.

And at about 5.30am yesterday a woman aged in her 40s was killed when the  4WD vehicle in which she was a front seat passenger left State Highway One, ran into a ditch and rolled near the Mata Hall, 22km southeast of Whangarei.

It is understood the woman, her husband - who was driving - and their two teenage daughters were returning to their home in the North after a trip to Australia.

Police said the woman was ejected from the 4WD in the crash and the vehicle came to rest on top of her.

Mr Paxton praised motorists who stopped, freed her from the wreck and tried to save her life.  She could not be resuscitated and died at the scene.

St John Ambulance official Mark Going said an ambulance officer travelling to work, a Bream Bay ambulance crew and paramedics dispatched from Whangarei had attended the accident.

An ambulance took the man and two girls to Whangarei Hospital, where their moderate injuries were treated and they were discharged.

At about 10.40am yesterday, a 69-year-old Dargaville man was killed when the south-bound car he was driving hit a cliff after failing to take the right-hand corner on State Highway 12 by the Tokatoka Tavern, 18km southeast of Dargaville.

Police late yesterday had not yet released names and other details of the trio who died as relatives were still being contacted.

Four people have died on Northland roads during December on average over the past five years and the region has the highest Christmas-New Year crash rate in the country.

Mr Paxton said that although there had been no fatalities on Northland roads in the past six weeks, there had been several serious crashes placing people in life-threatening situations.

"Road accidents take a huge toll on families," he said, urging motorists to take care on busy highways as holiday road traffic increased over the next next two months.