With one day of the long weekend still to go, police warned motorists to be extra vigilant as the road toll had already reached "horrific" proportions.
As at midnight last night, the toll stood at eight, including the deaths of a 62-year-old man near Queenstown and a 24-year-old pregnant woman near Timaru, while two mothers were also among the dead.
Senior Sergeant Mel Aitken, of the Dunedin police, said any road toll over zero was disappointing, but for it to be so high on a Sunday afternoon with a day still to go of a long weekend was sickening.
"It's horrific and extremely disappointing. We need to be mindful that the weekend's not over yet, and [today] will be a busy day on the roads.
"We don't want impatient drivers, because that can lead to dangerous overtaking manoeuvres which can lead to crashes."
National manager of road policing Superintendent Carey Griffiths said despite constant messaging about speed, alcohol and seatbelts, they remained consistent factors in crashes.
Police could only do so much and families and friends needed to look out for each other.
The worst single incident was a horror smash near Gisborne, in which four people were killed at 9.15pm on Saturday.
A mother of four killed in the crash has been described as a gentle, caring woman who was always smiling.
Serena Smith (33) was on her way home to the small community of Whatatutu after dropping her partner off at a concert in Gisborne when an oncoming Ford Explorer allegedly crossed the centre line on State Highway 2 and hit her van head-on.
Ms Smith was one of four people killed in the crash south of Te Karaka township.
The other three were passengers in the Ford Explorer, which burst into flames in the crash.
The driver of the Ford Explorer was injured.
Ms Smith was described by her uncle as a gentle, caring woman.
"She was very lovely, quiet, a very good mother, always smiling, a quiet achiever," Jack Tomoana said.
Police believed alcohol was a factor. The 59-year-old driver of the Ford Explorer suffered only moderate injuries in the smash that killed his three passengers, believed to be members of a family from Putaruru on their way to visit relatives in Gisborne.
Also on Saturday, a pregnant woman was killed, and her husband seriously injured, after being thrown from a vehicle in a collision near Washdyke, north of Timaru.
The couple's two children, aged 4 and 5, were in the back seat and were treated for minor injuries.
A 27-year-old man driving in a rural area of New Plymouth has been accused of hitting a female runner and then moving her body about 10km to where she was found in the back seat of a car.
The New Plymouth man has been charged with manslaughter after the body of Anne Elizabeth McCullough (45), a mother of two, was found yesterday.
She is believed to have been running in a rural area near Frankley Rd, New Plymouth, when she was hit by the vehicle between 1.30pm and 2pm.
She was found about 2.30pm in the back seat of a purple Holden Commodore near a place known as Meeting of the Waters.
The charged man is to appear in New Plymouth District Court tomorrow.
The fatal Queenstown crash on Tucker Beach Rd, near the Shotover Delta, on Saturday night was the worst of several crashes around Otago in the past two days.
Sergeant Kate Pirovano, of Queenstown, said the man was the sole occupant of a vehicle pulling a trailer, which crashed in heavy rain about 8.30pm. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police, St John ambulance and firefighters from Frankton and Queenstown attended the incident.
A serious crash unit arrived at the scene from Invercargill on Saturday night. The matter has been referred to the coroner.
In other crashes, a car which ended up in the garden of an Albert Town house when it left State Highway 6 and climbed an embankment yesterday morning left its 27-year-old male driver with an eye injury which was treated at Dunstan Hospital, and two people were lucky to escape serious injury in separate crashes at Alexandra.
In the first, a 72-year-old woman was treated at Dunstan Hospital after a collision at an intersection with Centennial Ave at 12.28pm, Saturday. In the other, a 44-year-old woman was taken to hospital after her car was extensively damaged when it hit the concrete wall of a commercial building on Chicago St at 4.47am yesterday. Police said speed was not a factor.
In Dunedin, an 82-year-old woman was charged with driving with excess breath-alcohol after she was seen driving through the Dunedin CBD in an erratic manner and running red lights yesterday. Police recorded a breath alcohol reading of 643mg per litre of breath.
The official holiday period began at 4pm Friday and ends at 6am tomorrow.
Labour Weekend road toll
• Serena Smith and three others killed in a head-on smash on SH2 near Te Karaka township on Saturday night
• A 62-year-old man killed in a crash on Tucker Beach Rd, near Queenstown, on Saturday
• A pregnant 24-year-old woman killed in a smash near Washdyke, north of Timaru on Saturday
• 45-year-old Anne McCullough believed to have been the victim of a hit-and-run in Taranaki on Saturday afternoon
• Annalese Bacon (17) was killed at Reporoa in the Bay of Plenty on Friday night.
