A man has died after a motorcycle crash in the South Island, bringing the number of deaths to 12, the same as last year's holiday road toll.
The latest crash happened just before 6am near the intersection of Partridge and Shortcut roads in Cromwell.
The man died at the scene.
Diversions were in place and Shortcut Rd is closed between State Highway 8b and State Highway 6.
The road was likely to remain closed for some time while police investigate.
Senior Sergeant Ian Kerrisk said it was too early to speculate on cause of the crash.
Last year's holiday road toll was 12 dead from 244 reported injury crashes. With six days still left before the period ends on January 4, the country has already equalled that toll.
Holiday road crash victims
• A man died after a motorcycle crash in Cromwell at 6am today.
• A man died in hospital yesterday after the car he was driving collided with a milk tanker in Hawera.
• A motorcyclist died in a crash at Pukerau, near Gore on December 27.
• Teenagers Cole Troy Hull, Samuel James Drost and Lily Frances Moore were killed in a crash near Leeston, early Monday. The car was being driven at high speed by an unlicensed 14-year-old boy, when it became airborne and smashed into a macrocarpa hedge, narrowly missing a concrete power pole.
• Another motorcyclist died at the scene after a collision with a car on Napier Rd in Ashhurst, Manawatu, on Boxing Day.
• Tyler Te Ruru Ahurei Davis, 2, was run over in a driveway in Te Kauwhata on Boxing Day. The toddler died on a public driveway, which meant the death is included in the official road toll.
• Lower Hutt man Clifford Irving, 66, was killed in a collision between a motorcycle and a ute on State Highway 2 in South Wairarapa on Christmas Day.
• A double fatality on Christmas Eve claimed the lives of Sione Taumalolo, 11, and Talita Moimoi, 33, when the bus they were in crashed down a 100m bank in Gisborne.
• The first fatality of the holiday period was Myung Wha Lim, 83, who died after being hit by a car in Takapuna on December 23.
The official holiday road period began at 4pm on December 23, and runs until 6am on January 4.