A man has been found dead in his car beside a South Otago road this morning.
The man, in his 40s or 50s, was the sole occupant of the car, which was found by a passing couple about 9:50am on a remote road between Owaka and Nugget Point.
It is not yet known when the accident happened. If it was before midnight, it would add another fatality to the 2008 road toll of 358.
Constable Mark Bredenbeck, of Clinton police, said the car had dropped over a steep bank and come to rest in a paddock beside the gravel road.
Meanwhile, police have named the woman killed when the car she was travelling in hit a tree in Canterbury on Tuesday.
She was Lauren Leigh Stoneley, aged 28, of Hornby, Christchurch.
The car she was in was being driven by her boyfriend when it left the road and hit a tree on Arundel-Rakaia Gorge Rd, near Alford Forest, about 8.30pm.
He suffered minor injuries.
With the Otago fatality, The Christmas-New Year road toll now stands at 13.
A 33-year-old Levin man was hit by a car in the town centre about 1:30am today.
The man was walking along the middle of State Highway 57 when a northbound vehicle hit him, Sergeant Jeff Lyver said.
NZPA
source: newshub archive
