18 Apr 2017

Easter weekend road toll drops to two

10:42 am on 18 April 2017

Police say the bad weather may have helped keep the Easter road toll down but there are also signs drivers are changing their behaviour.

Two people died on roads this Easter weekend - two fewer than last year.

A police car outside a cordon in South Auckland

Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly

Inspector Pete McKennie, the acting national road policing manager, said many people delayed travelling due to Cyclone Cook.

But he said it appeared that people were starting to listen to the safety messages.

"Hopefully people are starting to get it, but it's down to their driving, which is contributing to crashes and the severity of crash outcome. So we hope that that starts to come into play and we can see that trend taking off."

The official long weekend road toll started at 4pm last Thursday and ended at 6am today.

Police were now investigating the causes of the fatal crashes.