Wairarapa drivers fail to heed police

During Queen's Birthday weekend, Wairarapa police handed out 60 speeding tickets and nine tickets for drivers not wearing seatbelts.

A police blitz during the long weekend has revealed the message on speeding, drink driving and seat belts is still not getting through to everyone.

During Queen's Birthday weekend police issued 60 speeding tickets, mainly on State Highway 2, and nine tickets for people not wearing seatbelts.

Three people were caught drink-driving, with one caught at 11am on Saturday.

Senior Sergeant Jymahl Glassey said Wairarapa was lucky to come out of the weekend with only one fatality on the roads, although there had been two other minor crashes in South Wairarapa.

"Nationally, there were areas with more tragedies [over the long weekend] and a number of them involved alcohol and speed. Fortunately for [most] families in Wairarapa they didn't have to experience that.

"The tickets for speeding and belts and the number of drink drivers detected indicates that there is still a risk and people need to take care."

In another matter, police dealt with a serious assault on Sunday where a woman was allegedly badly beaten by her partner as a neighbour who had come to her aid was also allegedly assaulted.

Apart from these incidents, road police noticed no major spike in any other area of crime.