The Labour Weekend road toll has climbed to seven after a pedestrian was struck and killed by a car in Auckland early this morning.
The driver was assisting police with their inquiries after the crash on Great North Rd in Pt Chevalier township about 2.30am, Inspector Cornell Kluessien of police northern communications said.
The death beings the holiday road toll to just one shy of last year's, when eight people were killed on the roads.
Four people were killed in three fatal crashes yesterday.
A woman was killed when the car she was driving struck a motorway bridge pillar on State Highway 2 near Tauranga about 10pm yesterday.
A woman passenger was injured in the crash.
Two people died in a single car accident on SH2, about 15km south of Hastings, shortly after 2am yesterday, while a 30-year-old man was killed in a crash at the intersection of Bosher Rd and State Highway 1, north of Wellsford, about 9am.
There were two deaths after crashes on Saturday.
A man was killed when a car crossed the centre line and two cars collided on SH2 near Napier about 7am, while a motorcyclist died in hospital early yesterday after after crashing into a fence in Wanganui about 7.30pm Saturday.
National road policing manager Superintendent Paula Rose yesterday said the toll was expected to keep growing.
"The sad reality is there will be more crashes between now and 6am Tuesday morning, when the holiday weekend finishes, but the real focus for us is to make sure that we keep those right down to a minimum.''
Overall, the road toll is well down on last year, with about 75 fewer deaths to date.
Ms Rose said a number of crashes were expected on state highways over holiday weekends because people flocked to the country's main roads to travel.
An influx of heavier traffic was expected today and tomorrow as people travelled home.
The worst road toll was in 1978 when 16 people were killed over the holiday weekend.
The holiday road toll period started at 4pm on Friday and runs until 6am Tuesday.
