Investigations continued today into a string of fatal crashes which pushed the Queen's Birthday weekend road toll to its highest in 13 years.
Nine people died in five crashes throughout the country during the three days, including four in one Waikato smash.
The Saturday crash happened when a vehicle lost control on State Highway 30 near Benneydale about 2pm, hitting a culvert before colliding with an oncoming car.
Lucan Ryder, 29, Patricia Matthews, 30, and their nine-year-old daughter Monique Ryder, were killed in one car, while 61-year-old Ohakune woman Susan Paton died in the other.
Also on Saturday, a 36-year-old man died after his vehicle rolled into a ditch on Marshmans Rd, Rangiora, about 6.20pm.
Police said the man's family had asked for his name not to be released.
On Sunday a pedestrian and a truck driver were killed in a crash on State Highway 1 at Ohakea.
They were 21-year-old Stephen Kailahi, from Feilding, and 48-year-old Guy Stewart Bach, from Lower Hutt.
Police said Mr Kailahi appeared to have been walking along SH1 about 6am when he was struck by Mr Bach's chemical tanker, which rolled into a drainage ditch.
The highway was closed for 13 hours as agencies worked to recover the tanker, which had leaked about 12,000 litres of caustic soda.
Also on Sunday morning, a 38-year-old woman died in a three-car crash at Otahuhu on Auckland's southern motorway.
An 18-year-old man was killed when his vehicle ran off the road and hit a concrete power pole on Moorland Settlement Rd, near Hakataramea Downs, in South Canterbury, about 10.30pm yesterday.
There was another fatality this morning when a car and truck collided at Pleasant Point, northwest of Timaru about 6.30am today.
The death fell just outside the official holiday period, which started at 4pm on Friday and finished at 6am today.
Road policing operations manager Inspector Peter McKay said bad weather was likely to have contributed to some of the crashes.
"Obviously the weather may be a factor in some. We've had a number of single vehicle loss of control-type collisions," he said.
