The holiday road toll is nearly twice what it was at this time last year.
Halfway through this year's holiday period, 11 people have been killed in crashes, one less than for the whole period last year.
The holiday period is from 4pm on 23 December to 6am on 4 January.
Superintendent Paula Rose told Summer Report the road toll was only six at this stage last year.
However, the total number of road deaths so far this year is 280, 94 down on the previous year.
The Automobile Association applauds this year's low road toll, but says that's no excuse for complacency.
Motoring affairs general manager Mike Noon says New Zealand is only now just starting to get to the same sort of levels as other countries we compare ourselves to in terms of road safety.
