UPDATED 11.35am: The road toll for 2015 stands at 321.

That's 27 more deaths than in 2014 - and is the highest number in five years.

National road policing manager, Superintendent Steve Greally, it's too many - and each of the dead has left loved ones behind in pain.

The government's calling the provisional road toll for 2015 incredibly sad and disappointing.

Associate Transport Minister Craig Foss said it’s too early to say why the toll increased in 2015, but data shows drivers continue to make the same mistakes.

30 percent of fatal and serious road crashes were the result of speeding, 29 percent due to alcohol or drugs, and 20 percent due to unrestrained occupants.

The Christmas-New Year holiday road toll now stands at eight.

This includes an elderly woman who died in hospital last night from injuries received in a crash near Oamaru on Wednesday morning, and a fatality early this morning when a van crashed on near the Motueka Bridge.

The holiday period finishes at 6am on 5th of January.