Northland road policing manager Inspector Murray Hodgson talks to a driver.
Northland road policing manager Inspector Murray Hodgson talks to a driver.
It seems motorists are becoming less tolerant of those flouting road rules in Northland with an increase in the number of calls to *555 over the long weekend.
Northland road policing manager Inspector Murray Hodgson said the number of calls on *555 over the weekend had exceeded the number ofcomplaints received over the Queen's Birthday weekend in 2014, although the exact numbers were not available until today.
"People do trust we would take their complaints seriously and respond immediately. The public also has had enough of high-risk drivers on our roads and that's why they are reporting their behaviour," he said.
"Most complaints on the star triple five phone line were for speeding drivers and unsafe overtaking manoeuvres and we've managed to respond to majority of those complaints very quickly". There had been 10 crashes reported in Northland but they were not serious.
Police hoped the region would remain free of fatalities over the long weekend following the death of five people on roads across New Zealand, including a man who died when the car he was driving in Mangawhai veered off the road, hit rocks and flipped into mangroves.
The crash happened about 12.40am yesterday in a 50km/h zone on Insley St, which is an alternate route for motorists travelling to Wellsford from Mangawhai. The fatality will not be included on Northland's road toll as it happened in the Waitemata police district.
Police had not named the driver yesterday as next of kin were yet to be informed.
The region's road toll so far this year stands at nine.
