He was 62-year-old Lewis Gibson, of Mosgiel.
A stretch of State Highway 1 was closed for most of yesterday after the early morning crash.
Two others were injured in the 7.20am crash involving a large truck, a ute and a car, just south of Hawksbury.
A St John media alert confirmed the death and said one other person received serious injuries and another moderate injuries.
A helicopter was sent to the scene.
Residents spoken to after the crash said it was not the first time there had been a serious crash in the area.
Waikouaiti Coast Community Board member Andy Barratt said it was a ‘‘bad patch of road’’.
He had lived on a farm close to Karitane for more than 25 years and could remember multiple crashes happening on the same stretch of road over the years.
Hawksbury resident Susanne Quinger said the section of road did not appear dangerous, but this was the third or fourth major crash on it since she moved to the area in 1984.
In 2016, 64-year-old Stuart Windle, of Kaikoura, was killed in a five-car crash about 1km south of yesterday’s crash.
NZ Transport Agency senior network manager Chris Harris said a crane was deployed to help clear the scene yesterday afternoon.
The police serious crash unit was investigating.
Detours were in place. Light vehicles used Coast Rd between Hawksbury and Evansdale, while trucks and other heavy vehicles were diverted inland at Palmerston, travelling through to Mosgiel via Middlemarch.
The road reopened at 6.40pm.
