Police and other emergency services throughout New Zealand have attended eight fatal crashes so far, where nine people have lost their lives.

Police have also attended to many other serious injury crashes on our road during this time.

Superintendent Steve Greally, Director of Road Policing, said this number is incredibly frustrating.

There’s no excuse for any driver to be endangering their lives and those of others with unsafe behaviours.

Many families have been affected by bad decisions made while behind the wheel so far this holiday.

Drivers need to be clear that if they are driving distracted, speeding or driving impaired by alcohol or drugs, they may cause a crash and possibly cut someone’s life short.

Over the Christmas period last year, 21 lives were tragically lost in road crashes, and sadly, as of 29 December this year, we have lost nine people on our roads this holiday period.

Police and our road safety partners are very disappointed in this figure.

We will continue to have a coordinated, highly visible Police presence at high-risk locations, including State Highways and rural areas, during peak travel periods throughout the country.

If you are caught putting other people’s lives at risk, you can expect to be dealt with and don’t expect a warning.

“Road deaths and serious injuries are preventable."

We all need to do better and stop accepting people dying on our roads is what happens when driving.

Over time, our enforcement action has proven to deter people from driving dangerously; however, road safety is something we must all take responsibility for.

We should all play our part to be safe on our roads. Too many families have received tragic news this holiday period.

Motorists should expect to see Police anytime and anywhere over this holiday break to ensure everyone travelling the roads and highways safely reaches their destination.

We can all work together to avoid unnecessary road trauma.

We will continue with our record levels of breath testing and issue infringements as part of our prevention and enforcement role.

The Ministry of Transport will provide updates on holiday road toll data throughout the break.