Several people are still recovering in hospital after two horror crashes in Northland in quick succession.
One person died in a crash near Kauri while seven people, including children, were rushed to hospitals in Auckland and Whangārei from a separate crash near Waipu.
Three helicopters rushed to the scene and airlifted some of the more seriously injured patients to Starship Children's Hospital.
St John also deployed five ambulances, two rapid response units and two operations managers to the scene.
Northland Road Policing Manager, Inspector Anne-Marie Fitchett, told Newshub that early indications are that the car driving north crossed the centre line and collided with a southbound car.
While Insp Fitchett said it was too early to comment on any more specific circumstances, she called on all road users to improve their driving.
"It's devastating for our staff who are out there working every day to try and keep our roads safe," Insp Fitchett said, "we need our community to step up and look at their driving practices."
"Look after each other, stop each other from drinking and driving, keep our speeds down, ditch the mobile phones while driving. If we all work together, we're going to have safer roads."
The patients taken to Whangārei Hospital are in a stable condition, however no update was available on those taken to Starship Children's Hospital.
"Our thoughts are with the families, it's a tragic occurrence and not one we want to see on our roads."
