The death is the first of the official 2025 Christmas holiday road toll period which began on Christmas Eve.
Fifteen people died on the roads over the same period last year.
New Zealand’s annual road toll is now at 269 and on track to be among the lowest totals in decades.
As of this morning – with two days left of the year – the provisional toll sat at 269.
If it remains below 272, it would be the second-lowest annual total since 1951.
While road deaths are falling across the country, Hawke’s Bay is facing its worst annual road toll in at least five years.
This week’s fatality has brought the region’s toll to 22, the most since 2020, and seven more than the total recorded in 2024.
