Woman injured following motorcycle accident

Photo / BOPT

A woman was seriously injured after a motorcycle slammed into a traffic light pole in Tauranga yesterday.

The incident was the third serious motorcycle crash in recent days after the deaths of two motorcyclists in separate incidents in the Bay of Plenty and north of Auckland.

Senior Sergeant Shannon Clifford said the motorcycle was seen to lose control at the intersection of Cameron Rd and Fifteenth Ave about 5pm yesterday.

It then crashed into the traffic light pole.

The male motorcycle rider was taken to Tauranga Hospital with minor injuries, while his female pillion passenger was airlifted by rescue helicopter to Waikato Hospital in a serious condition.

"Early indications are that the motorcycle may have been travelling at speed prior to loosing control and crashing," Mr Clifford said.

No other vehicles were thought to be involved.

Police closed the intersection while an investigation were carried out.

Earlier yesterday, Auckland businessman Chris Heilbronn, 61, was killed when his Ducati motorcycle and a car collided in Omaha north of Auckland about 10.30am.

On Friday, Rotorua man Aterea Paurini Daulton Moke, 29, was killed in a collision with a car on State Highway 33, south of Paengaroa.

Police yesterday said they believed a second vehicle may have unknowingly struck Mr Moke after he had come off his motorcycle.