Holiday road toll stands at seven 

Source: NZPA

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The road toll is supposed to be tracking to an historic 50 year low, but that did not stop a horror day on the roads on Saturday afternoon.

A fire-fighter is dead after a fire appliance crashed on its way to attend another accident, at the northern tip of East Cape.

The voluntary rural fire-fighters were on their way from Hicks Bay to Waihau Bay on State Highway 35 just after 4pm when their vehicle rolled down a bank.

One crew member died at the scene and another was seriously injured.
 
The Gisborne rescue helicopter has responded as well as police and other emergency services.

And in another fatal accident near Christchurch, three people died after four motorcycles were involved in a crash just after 4pm again.
 
The crash was on State Highway 75, between Tai Tapu and Motu-Karara.
 
It's understood one of the motorcyclists may have been trying to pass a car when it crashed into three other motorcycles coming in the opposite direction.

The holiday road toll now stands at seven and as holiday makers clogged highways around the country to get away for the festive break, police were out in force.
 
While this year's road toll is on track to be the lowest in five decades, this period of time is the worst for road fatalities and the authorities are taking no chances.
 
ONE News spent the day with a police patrol just south of Auckland, where a couple of drivers were caught - those determined to push the limit.

There was still a police presence on State Highway 2 at 6pm, but the heavy traffic that was clogging the highway - at one stage there was a 10km line of vehicles queued to cross the Kopu Bridge - has eased and traffic is now flowing more smoothly.

Also, many motorists have now been able to drive on the Mangatawhiri deviation, which opened last week and by-passes one of the country's worst accident black spots, something that police says will very much keep the road toll down.

Police says the excuses given by roadsters for speeding are endless.

"You name it they've given it. I'll think I'll give someone a prize if they give me one I haven't heard before, but generally they're late or they didn't realise or they were just overtaking," says Constable Steven Jones, Waikato Highway Patrol.

As Auckland holiday makers pour onto Waikato roads, the police were out in full force, catching the speedsters.

Police say the patrols are all about saving lives as much as they can.

"All year we've had strategies to try and combat the road toll and now we're just hoping people pay attention and listen to the messages and look after themselves really," says Inspector Rob Morgan, National Road Policing.

There are also others on the lookout for dangerous behaviour.

Butta Gurmel of Transfield Services, a road maintenance company, says if they see anything, like bad driving, they will ring up the police and do their bit to keep the roads safe.

Also, sitting inside a van, speed camera operator Laurie Adams is doing his bit to save lives during the holiday period.

"I've been here from seven o'clock this morning till 10am and nearly 2000 vehicles have gone passed and seen about 51 violations," says Adams.

Police are reiterating their message of patience and tolerance and urging motorists to slow down to keep the road toll down.