Eye on speed, fatigue after good result

Photo / File

Police are pleased no serious crashes occurred in the Rotorua region during the holiday period.

But there's no relaxing on the safety message as the next stream of holiday-makers hits our roads.

The national road toll during the Christmas-New Year period was 17. Four of those deaths were recorded in the Western Bay of Plenty area, which included two Rotorua men involved in a crash in Paengaroa on December 28. The official holiday period ran from 4pm on Christmas Eve through to 6am yesterday.

The officer in charge of road policing for Rotorua, Senior Sergeant Nicky Riordan, said staff focused heavily on monitoring the highways during this time: "Generally, we're very pleased that we had no serious-injury crashes, however there is still room for improvement.

"We had a number of driving-related complaints with the high volume of traffic on the road during the busy time and the common theme was drivers weaving in their own lane," Mrs Riordan said.

"We will still continue to focus on the main highways, certainly over the next couple of weeks as the next lot of drivers on holidays come through. The big focus is still on speed and fatigued drivers. The message is to plan your trips and allow plenty of time to travel," she said.

The Rotorua men who died in Paengaroa were from India. The crash involved their Volkswagen Golf car and a tanker truck on State Highway 5.

Western Bay of Plenty road policing manager Senior Sergeant Ian Campion said police were unable to release the victims' names until the Indian Embassy confirmed next of kin had been informed.

Mr Campion said police were still investigating the cause of the crash but early indications suggested that inattention and failure to comply with basic intersection rules were the preliminary causes.