The mid-year road toll is the highest it has been since at least 2018.
File photo. Photo: 123RF
So far this year, there have been 190 deaths.
Last week, seven people including a baby, died in a crash between a refrigerator truck and a van on State Highway 1 south of Picton.
In 2018, the mid-year toll by the end of June was 181.
That year, 378 people died on the roads in total, and it was the worst-equal annual toll since 2009.
Waka Kotahi spokesperson Tara Macmillan said the numbers this year were expected to be worse because of the easing in Covid-19 travel restrictions.
But she said they demonstrated the need to further push the strategy of aiming for zero road deaths.