The Queen's Birthday holiday period ended this morning with three road deaths, including one resulting from a car plunging into a Bay of Plenty river.
The submerged vehicle was seen by a member of the public in the Waioeka River near Opotiki around 5am yesterday and police later recovered it, along with a body.
Police were treating it as a fatal crash, although it has not yet confirmed whether it happened during the holiday period.
On Saturday night an 18-year-old man was killed after crashing while being pursued by police near Dargaville.
Police said an officer spotted the driver going at speed through a stop sign in Dargaville about 10.35pm.
The car driver fled along State Highway 14 when the officer activated lights and a siren but crashed on a bend about 30 seconds later, ending up over a slight embankment.
Alcohol was a suspected factor in the crash, police said. Early on Saturday a 24-year-old Wairoa man died when the 4WD he was in crashed about 10km south of the town.
Police said no other vehicle was involved in the crash, which occurred on a moderate bend.
Five people died on the roads during Queen's Birthday weekend last year and police say there were fewer reports of dangerous driving this year and appeared to be fewer cars on the roads -- which may be because of the cost of fuel.
Meanwhile, 20-year-old New Zealander Mathew Glenn Brausch died when he crashed his Ford Falcon in Western Australia on Saturday, The New Zealand Herald reported.
A witness said the car was overtaking at high speed on the Great Southern Highway when it lost control and smashed into a tree.
