The holiday road toll stands at zero and the country's top road cop says it's "entirely feasible" it could remain that way if drivers remain vigilant.
Since 3pm yesterday, 127 crashes have been reported to police.
The most recent was at 4.30pm today in Rotorua, where a person was critically injured in a two-car collision.
National road policing manager Superintendent Steve Greally said the majority of the crashes were "very low level".
Several of the others were serious but the people involved did not have life-threatening injuries.
"The crashes have had varying degrees of seriousness. There were a couple of crashes that were really serious but have since been downgraded - the people are out of the woods, they are going to be OK."
Mr Greally said there were lots of reasons the crashes had happened, including speeding, driving with alcohol, and motorists answering text messages.
"Crashes do not happen if you're paying attention. It's as simple as that."
He was happy that the holiday road toll still stood at zero.
"Thank God nobody has died - yet. And I say 'yet', because the law of averages says that it will happen. Unfortunately, as tragic as it is, we do lose people at this time of year.
"However, it's really, really promising that we are at zero, and entirely feasible that we'll go without any deaths if drivers continue to do what they're doing."
After the Rotorua crash, one person was taken to Rotorua Hospital with critical injuries. The crash happened on Ngongotaha Rd about 4.30pm. The car driver who suffered critical injuries was trapped; the front-seat passenger was seriously hurt. The sole occupant of the other car suffered a serious arm injury.
Police are investigating the cause of the collision.
