Road spike granny who failed to stop

Road spikes. Photo / APN

An elderly woman oblivious she was being chased by police for 25 minutes only stopped when her car was spiked on a state highway south of Rotorua.

Rotorua area commander Inspector Bruce Horne said officers received several reports from concerned motorists about a vehicle being driven in an erratic manner on State Highway 5 about 12.20pm yesterday.

"A few minutes later the vehicle was located by police heading south along SH5,'' he said.

"As the police patrol approached the vehicle the officers also observed the vehicle being driven in a very erratic manner.''

Mr Horne said officers signalled to the driver to stop by turning on the car's lights and sirens, but the driver did not pull over.

"Although the vehicle was travelling at a speed within the prescribed limit at all times, the manner in which the vehicle was being driven was of concern to police and created concern for the safety of both the driver and other road users.''

He said police continued to try and get the woman's attention with repeated signals being given to the driver to stop.

"The driver appeared oblivious to the presence of the police,'' he said.

"Other police officers set up a check point ahead of the vehicle in an effort to gain the driver's attention.''

Mr Horne said the woman also ignored the officers who had set up the check point.

Officers then put road spikes on the state highway, which the woman drove over, bringing the car to a stop.

He said that by the time the vehicle had come to a stop, police had been trying to get the driver's attention for more than 25 minutes.

"When the elderly driver was approached by police officers, she was oblivious to the fact that police had been signalling to her to stop. She was also unaware that the reason that her vehicle had stopped was because her tyres had deflated as a result of running over road spikes,'' he said.

"The elderly female driver of the vehicle has not been charged, however, police are talking to the woman's family about the status of her driver's licence.'