Six people are dead and 13 others injured following a spate of crashes on the country's roads in the past day and a-half.
The carnage began at 1.30am yesterday when a car containing four people crashed into a wall on Devon St in New Plymouth.
A 22-year-old man was transported to Taranaki Base Hospital in a critical condition and died around 4pm yesterday.
Three other people remain in hospital - a 16-year-old male is in a critical condition, while a 17-year-old female and 17-year-old male have serious injuries.
Later in the morning, another life was claimed after a crash between a truck and a car on the Wellington Motorway, at the southern end of the Terrace Tunnel.
The crash occurred about 7.50am and closed the tunnel, stopping traffic heading in both directions and did not reopen until just before 12.30pm.
The collision involved a Crown removal van towing a trailer, and a car. A witness to the aftermath said the car, a silver wreck, was completely totalled.
Five hours later, one person was killed in a single-vehicle crash on State Highway 35, south of Tolaga Bay, Gisborne.
A Fire and Emergency NZ spokeswoman said early reports showed a vehicle had left the road and hit a tree.
The crash happened just before 1pm, and a second person in the vehicle was taken to hospital for injuries not thought to be serious.
Not long after that, a crash near Mt Cook resulted in the death of one person and two more being seriously hurt.
The crash, just after 3pm, involved three cars at the intersection of State Highways 8 and 80.
Police said two others were seriously injured and a third person had moderate injuries.
At the opposite end of the country, a 64-year-old female died in hospital following a crash on State Highway 16 at Waimauku last night.
The woman was the driver of one of the vehicles involved in a two-car crash at 5.15pm near McPike Road.
Two other people were airlifted to Auckland Hospital - one remains in a critical condition and one seriously injured.
A person at the scene said one person had been extricated from a silver sedan that had gone into the ditch.
Waitemata Police Detective Senior Sergeant Callum McNeill said police are appealing for witnesses to the fatal crash.
Early this morning another life was lost in a crash on Piako Rd in Morrinsville.
One person died and two other people were transported to hospital in a moderate condition following the incident at about 8.10am.
Each of the six crashes are being investigated by the Serious Crash Unit.
As of yesterday 246 people had died on New Zealand roads since January 1, seven less than at this point last year.
In the 12 months to yesterday there were 371 deaths, up seven from the previous 12 months.
