Several crashes in the district this morning (+ video)

This ute succumbed to the ice on State Highway 5 south of Rotorua this morning Photo/Ben Fraser

Rotorua police are asking motorists to take extreme caution on the district's roads this morning after a number of crashes due to heavy frost.

Police were called to State Highway 5, near Tumunui at 8.30am today after a ute crashed into a bank.

Sergeant Dave Hamilton said the driver lost control as he tried to overtake a truck in the passing lane as he was heading north.

"As he was coming in front, he clipped the truck and hit the bank."

The driver was uninjured. The road was temporarily closed before traffic was allowed to slowly pass by the crash scene.

"People need to drive to the conditions, it's not hard to see that it's all white out here. Then further up there is a lot of black ice and to be fair, black ice is more dangerous then white ice because there's no warning," Mr Hamilton said.

A number of minor crashes have also been reported to the north of the city near Ngongotaha, particularly between Dansey Rd and Oturoa Rd.

Contractors are laying grit on the road to help prevent accidents.

"This is traditional this time of year for areas like Dansey Rd, Mamaku, Hamurana, Tikitere," Mr Hamilton said.

"We are aware of these areas [this time of year] but people need to drive to conditions because the council grit truck can only do so much at a certain time."

Motorists were are also being warned of ice on the Tauranga Direct Rd at Pyes Pa, which is forcing drivers to navigate State Highway 36 at 30km/h to 50km/h.

Kelsey Duncan, who commutes each day to Tauranga from Rotorua, said the road was covered in ice and it was the worst she had seen it in three months.

"The entire way was like ice, you couldn't go above 50km/h. Everyone was driving real slow," she said.

"You could see it. It was shiny the whole way from start to just before the school."