Holiday period 'pleasing', say police

Masterton traffic policing Sergeant Chris Megaw said the latest Christmas New Year break was a "fairly well-controlled" holiday period in Wairarapa.

A fatigue-related crash at Riversdale Beach and a speedster clocked at 105km/h in a 50 km/h were some of the incidents attended by police during a holiday period with relatively few serious crashes on Wairarapa roads.

Masterton traffic policing Sergeant Chris Megaw said a driver losing control due to fatigue after a long day at Riversdale Beach and another crash involving teenagers on Ponatahi Rd, were the only notable crashes during a "fairly well-controlled" holiday period.

There were no serious injuries as a result of either crash, although a 22-year-old man is in a critical condition following a crash near Ngawi which occurred after the holiday period officially ended.

During the 2013/2014 holiday period last year there were two serious injury and two minor injury crashes in Wairarapa.

The response of Wairarapa drivers to the new drink-driving threshold was also pleasing, with only six drink-drivers caught by Masterton police during the break, Mr Megaw said.

"We are pretty pleased - we had a lot of effort and time put in from our staff. People expected to be stopped and most people changed their behaviour accordingly."

Two of the six drivers apprehended by police were between the new threshold of 250mcg of alcohol per litre of breath and the previous limit of 400mcg. Despite the change to the limit, the number of drink-drivers was roughly on par with last year, Mr Megaw said. There was also a notable improvement in the number of people wearing helmets while riding quad bikes at beaches monitored by police, Mr Megaw said.

Several drivers were caught reaching speeds of about 130km/h while overtaking, and a 19-year-old man was clocked doing 105km/h in a 50km/h area in Oxford St, Masterton.

Also of concern was the expected increase in daytripping motorcyclists normally experienced in Wairarapa after the Christmas break, Mr Megaw said. Groups of motorcyclists seeking unpoliced roads often triggered an increase in crashes.