Photo: ST JOHN NZ

Labour Weekend has begun with a bad start on the roads.

A person has died after being hit by a vehicle in the Northland town of Waipapa.

It happened on Onekura Road at 3:35am on Saturday.

In Hamilton, two people were critically injured in a crash in the early hours of Saturday.

The single vehicle crash in Kells Place, Frankton, happened about 1:10am.

Saturday afternoon

Just after midday on Saturday afternoon, a collision on State Highway One forced the closure of the Northbound lanes at Wellsford.

And a crash blocked a northbound lane at Drury, south of Auckland, just before 3pm.

There was no information immediately available about injuries.

Off the roads, police said the sole occupant of a light aircraft died after a crash in Blenheim, at the Omaka Aerodrome, just before 1:20pm on Saturday.

Friday

On Saturday morning, police said a motorcyclist had died in hospital following a crash with a car on State Highway 1 in Taihape on Friday.

The crash was reported to police at 3:40pm, just before the official long weekend holiday road toll began at 4pm Friday.

Also on Friday, two people died in separate crashes just hours before the road toll started.

One person was killed in a two-vehicle collision in Whanganui at about 1.30pm Friday, and a person died in a crash involving several vehicles at the intersection of State Highway 1 and Shoemaker Road, at Waipu in Northland, at about 1.55pm on Friday.

And, at the Bay of Islands, a person has died after they were knocked unconscious on a yacht while racing in the Coastal Classic.

Five people died during Labour Weekend last year.