National road toll climbs to 27

The national holiday road toll has climbed to 27 following the deaths of two people on the Gold Coast.

The man and woman died at the scene of the crash on the hinterland Beaudesert-Beenleigh Road at Wolffdene just after 8.30am (AEST) on Friday.

The deaths have taken Queensland's road toll for the holiday period to five.

As of 7pm (AEDT) on Friday, the national road toll stood at 27, just hours before the tally ends at 11.59pm.

On Thursday two people were killed in separate incidents in Victoria and Tasmania.

A Victorian man in his 80s died shortly after his car struck a median strip and flipped onto its roof southeast of Melbourne.

And a Tasmanian man died moments after he spoke with police when his car hit a tree and burst into flames.

The deaths pushed Victoria's holiday road toll to four and Tasmania's to three.

Over the December 23 to January 3 toll period seven people were killed on NSW roads, five in WA and one each in the ACT, Northern Territory and South Australia.

During 2013 in NSW, 339 people died on the state's roads - the lowest since 1924, police said on Friday.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn said despite the road toll reduction, there was still unacceptable loss of life on NSW roads and it was not time to be complacent.

"It really is now the crucial time for us to focus on keeping this road toll as low as we possibly can," she told reporters on Friday.

The past year also saw significant drops in road deaths in a number of other states.

Police say 242 people were killed on Victorian roads in 2013, compared to 282 the previous year and 444 in 2001.

Seven people died on ACT's roads during last year, down more than 40 per cent from 2012.

In South Australia in 2013 97 people died on the state's roads, three more than the previous year.