Twelve people have been killed on the roads at the weekend - the worst weekend road toll this year, eclipsing the Labour Weekend toll of eight.
There were three double-fatalities in the toll. In the most recent a 41-year-old male motorcyclist and a 49-year-old female pedestrian were killed when they collided near Gisborne last night.
Two people died following a crash in Turangi yesterday morning, the 20-year-old female driver and a 47-year-old male passenger. They have not yet been named.
Yesterday morning Waikato cyclists Mark Andrew Ferguson, 46, and Wilhelm Muller, 71, were killed when a car ploughed into their group of 10, also critically injuring Kay Wolfe, 44.
Police this morning named motorcyclist Peter Townsend, 37, as the victim of a crash on River Road in Hamilton on Saturday. Also on Saturday, Kelvin Wayne Donoghue, 45, died as a result of a single vehicle crash at Te Miro Road, east of Hamilton.
On Saturday night a heavily pregnant 42-year-old woman died and two people were taken to hospital after a head-on collision just outside Opiki, near Palmerston North.
A 34-year-old female cyclist died in a collision with a car on State Highway 3 in the Sanson area, near Palmerston North, on Saturday afternoon, meaning three cyclists were among the 12 killed, prompting calls for urgent action to make the country's roads safer for them.
"There are government strategies and programmes to promote cycling and cycle safety, but we haven't seen enough changes on the street yet, " Cycling Advocates Network spokesman Patrick Morgan said.
"Urgent action is needed. This will require a lot more resources and leadership to make changes."
Some of the measures that should be taken included educating drivers and cyclists about how to coexist on the road, promoting the use of lower speed zones and fixing problem cycle areas, he said.
On Saturday day afternoon South Korean student Geon Park, 23, who was studying English in Queenstown, was killed when the vehicle she was in rolled off Forks-Okarito Road running between Franz Josef Highway and Okarito, on the West Coast.
She probably would have survived the crash if she had been wearing a seat belt, Constable Paul Gurney, of Franz Josef police, said.
On Saturday morning, Irishman Leslie Armitage, 23, died when the Landrover he was driving crashed off a road in Central Otago's Ida Valley. Police said it appeared he was not wearing a seatbelt.
He was reportedly two weeks into a year-long stay in New Zealand.
National road safety adviser Superintendent Paula Rose has been unavailable for comment and police are yet to determine whether alcohol or speed contributed to the crashes.
The 12 weekend deaths takes the 2010 road toll to 329 to date.
