The changes required to lessen the number of people killed on New Zealand roads over the holiday period "aren't happening quick enough", according to a road safety activist.

Last night, the holiday road toll for 2023/2024 increased to 19, only a few less than last year's rate of 21.

Police have named 27-year-old Pāpāmoa man Brayden Tawa, Hamilton woman Louise Quinn and 22-year-old Aucklander Wenxuan Li among those who tragically lost their lives in fatal crashes during the holidays.

Caroline Perry, a director at Brake, the road safety charity, told Newstalk ZB's Summer Breakfast that while the number of people killed had reduced, the rate was still far too high.

"Unfortunately, in terms of the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads, we're still seeing far too many families who are having to deal with the consequences of crashes," she said.

"We are starting to see some improvements and gains, with more safety measures like median barriers on some of our roads and some safe and appropriate speed limits, but things haven't been happening as quickly as we need them to."

Perry was asked if the Road to Zero campaign, which aims to bring the total number of deaths on New Zealand's roads to zero, was a worthwhile pursuit, and the activist was quick to throw her support behind the effort.

She said it echoed beliefs that her charity had but, again, stressed it was about the urgency with which it is required to make changes.

"[Road to Zero] is based on a wealth of evidence internationally in terms of what works, what we've seen work overseas," she said.

"The safe-system approach takes the whole-of-transport-system approach to road safety and [says] that there's not one solution that's going to fix our issues - it takes looking at the entire transport system and putting in a range of measures.

"But, as I say, we just haven't been doing things quickly enough. We need to see things happening much more quickly if we're going to achieve the targets of that strategy."

Perry said it feels to her that the same messages are being heard when it comes to the road-safety space as drivers are educated on how to keep themselves safe on the road. But she desires to see more practical measures put in place.

Among the changes she hopes to see are further median barriers installed and more reductions in speed limits that reflect the nature of the roads.

She also wants police to be better funded and resourced to enforce the road rules introduced.

"There are lots of things we would urge [the Government] to keep going with, the things we know work," said Perry.

"We know such a big proportion of our roads don't have speed limits that match the current conditions of the roads that we have, and while we need to make some improvements to our roads we need speed limits that match the conditions."

According to the Ministry of Transport’s latest data, on Friday afternoon, the provisional road death toll for 2023 was 343.

The ministry’s road fatality data is updated daily.

“While crashes on our roads continue to be a leading cause of death, we have provisionally seen 340 road-related deaths in 2023, which was down 34 from 2022,” police said.

“Despite this, our holiday road deaths currently sit at 15.”

The spokesman said while it was worth noting the reduction in overall deaths, there were “still too many people who didn’t get to spend the festive season with loved ones”.

“Speed, alcohol and drugs, and distraction, are still the main causes of death and serious injury,” police said.

“Wearing your seatbelt can also be the difference between surviving a crash and not.”

Roads continue to be busier than usual during the holiday season as people travel around the country.

“Please be patient, plan your trips, drive sober and pull over if you are feeling tired,” police urged.