Holiday road toll: 5 dead and at least 10 injured
Photo:
RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Five people have been killed and at least 10 injured in separate crashes in the first two days of the long weekend.
A motorcyclist was killed in a crash on Harihari Highway, State Highway 6 on Sunday. The crash, at Kakapotahi near the Waitaha River Bridge, was reported to police at a 5.15pm. No other vehicles were involved.
A woman died in
hospital on Sunday
after her vehicle rolled on Tuakau Bridge-Port Waikato Road in Waikato on Friday, just a few hours after the holiday road toll period began. Three others were injured in the single vehicle crash.
A man died several hours later in a
crash in the Waipā district
, also in Waikato, after his vehicle left the road and rolled into a paddock.
Just after midnight on Saturday, a person died in a two vehicle crash south of Kawakawa in Northland.
And on Saturday night, a man died after his car ended up on its roof on
State Highway 16 in Auckland
. Four people were taken to hospital, two in a serious condition and two in moderate condition.
The official road toll period will end at 6am on Tuesday.
Last year, three people died on the roads during the King's Birthday holiday weekend.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
9 hours ago
- RNZ News
South Indian communities celebrate Bonalu in Auckland
Bonalu celebrations in Auckland. Photo: Supplied/New Zealand Telangana Central Association The New Zealand Telangana Central Association and Telangana Association of New Zealand celebrated the annual Bonalu festival on 20 July in Auckland, with hundreds of devotees attending. The festival, which is popular in the southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, celebrates Hindu goddess Mahakali. On this day, women dressed in traditional clothes carry bonalu (offerings made of rice, jaggery, yoghurt and water that are kept in a pot decorated with turmeric and neem leaves) on their heads and perform a parikrama ritual, moving clockwise around a temple in an act of devotion. The bonalu are then offered to the goddess as devotees seek her blessing. According to the Indian government, the origins of the festival date back to the 19th century when a military battalion in the Indian city of Hyderabad prayed to the goddess to eradicate a plague that was devastating the city. Devotees believe the goddess eradicated the disease, and the battalion installed an idol of her in the city in honour of her actions. In Auckland, the bonalu ritual was performed at the Shri Ganesha Temple in Papakura and Mt Eden War Memorial Hall, with a communal meal featuring sacred offerings in the form of food to the gods called mahaprasadam highlighting the celebrations. "Apart from the traditional bonalu procession, we also performed other rituals including dravya abhishekam (bathing the deity with milk, water or honey), shakambari alankaranam (decorating the goddess with vegetables) and thrishathi archana (chanting the goddess' 300 names)," said Kalyan Rao Kasuganti, president of New Zealand Telangana Central Association. "Bonalu this year stood as a true symbol of devotion, cultural pride and community spirit."
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Contractor fined $70k for safety breach after forestry worker loses fingers
By Shannon Pitman, Open Justice reporter of The hauler involved in the incident which left a forestry worker seriously injured. Photo / Worksafe Photo: Supplied / Worksafe A seasoned forestry worker lost four fingers in a workplace accident, which ended a 45-year career that was marked by pride, satisfaction and no intention to retire. Now, Kohurau Contracting has been ordered to pay $150,000 and must publish an educational article about the dangers of untangling cable snarls in forestry operations. In August 2021, the worker - who has name suppression - was at a forestry site near Waipu, south of Whangārei, helping clear a cable that had not been wound correctly on to the drum. The experienced crew were packing up to relocate to another location but the tail line had over-spooled on to the drum, creating a "bird's nest" similar to which can occur on a fishing reel. At least 1200m of cable had to be pulled out in order to clear the bird's nest. The victim was guiding the rope back on to the drum using a hammer while seated beneath the tower. Another worker was operating a grapple loader to keep the cable elevated. During the operation, the stabiliser ram supporting the tower fractured, and a broken section - known as the spear - fell on to the victim, seriously injuring him. As a result, the victim was hospitalised for six weeks and had to have four fingers amputated. Kohurau was charged by WorkSafe for failing to ensure the health and safety of its workers and pleaded not guilty. A five-day judge-alone trial was held in the Dargaville District Court in November 2024, where several witnesses gave evidence including the victim and industry experts. WorkSafe's mechanical engineer, John Mains, stated that winching without guy ropes was unacceptable and the accident would not have occurred had the tower been properly secured. Kohurau's expert argued that guy ropes were unnecessary for the task and the force involved was minimal - claims Judge Peter Davey found inconsistent. The court also heard that Kohurau lacked a specific safe system for clearing birds' nests and relied heavily on the experience of its crew. Judge Davey concluded Kohurau breached its duties under the Health and Safety Act and found the company guilty of exposing workers to serious risk. This week at the Whangārei District Court the company was sentenced in the presence of its owner, Hamish John Owen. Kohurau's lawyer Daniel Robinson argued the company was insolvent and had suffered a loss of $1.3 million because of the accident. "Where do you get that from?" Judge Davey questioned before noting the company still had assets of around $400,000 and $250,000 in its bank account. Judge Davey did not accept the losses were from the accident and stated the company had been downsizing prior to the accident. Judge Davey repeatedly expressed his concern around whether reparation would be paid, to which Robinson assured him any amount ordered would be met. "My instructions sir, is we will be able to be pay but that is limited to the reparation order," Robinson responded. Robinson also submitted the absence of any industry guidelines for winding cables was a mitigating factor that should be applied to the companies' overall sentence. Judge Davey noted the significant impact the accident had on the victim. "He hasn't been able to return to work, he enjoyed the work, he had no plans of retiring," Judge Davey said. "He clearly took great pride in his work, took great satisfaction in his work and he was good at his job. "Despite what's happened to him, he nevertheless tries to stay positive." Judge Davey said the price of an emotional harm reparation order was an intuitive exercise and there was no way to put a figure on the suffering caused. "No amount of money can compensate the emotional harm that he has suffered." Judge Davey said Kohurau should have had a process in place to clear birds' nests and there was "a real risk he could have been killed". Kohurau, which has already paid the victim $10,000, was ordered to pay him a further $50,000. The company was also fined $70,000 and ordered to pay legal costs of $30,000. The court also issued a project order with two key commitments to be completed within 12 months. Kohurau must work in collaboration with the Forestry Industry Safety Council (FISC) and Forestry Industry Contractors Association (FICA) to develop guidance on winding in non-working ropes. It must also publish an article in NZ Forestry magazine highlighting the case to raise awareness and promote safer practices across the industry. "This project order is a way for Kohurau to take the lead on delivering initiatives that create genuine sector-wide improvements in forestry. We look forward to seeing the benefits that this industry-led guidance produces," WorkSafe spokesperson Mark Horgan said. * This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Supermarket sign catches fire while customers were in store
File photo. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon A supermarket on Auckland's North Shore has had to be evacuated after a fire this evening. Fire and Emergency were alerted to the blaze about 7.45pm, after the New World sign at the Brown's Bay supermarket ignited. The building, which was open at the time, was evacuated with smoke entering the store. A video posted on a Brown's Bay community group on social media showed flames coming from the building. Four fire appliances including a high reach truck were deployed. The fire has since been extinguished with two trucks remaining on scene. Last month a massive blaze broke out at the New World Victoria Park supermarket in central Auckland in June, taking more than 10 hours to extinguish.
