"Whakatane Police disappointed at number of weekend crashes"

Please attribute to Sergeant Ray Wylie, Road Policing Manager Eastern Bay of Plenty:

Whakatane Police are very disappointed at the number of crashes attended over the weekend.

Police attended ten crashes between Friday afternoon and 5.30pm on Sunday.

Initial indications are that a potential factor in most of the crashes was a failure to recognise the wet conditions of the roads, with drivers not slowing down enough to successfully negotiate bends and corners, losing control of their vehicles.

In two of the crashes over the weekend, alcohol is also suspected to have been a contributing factor.

This is hugely disappointing, considering six drivers are believed to have died on Eastern Bay of Plenty roads this year due to driving impaired by alcohol.

As summer kicks off and more and more people are out and about on the roads, we really need people to be paying attention to the basics: wear your seatbelt, don’t drive while impaired or distracted, and watch your speed.

Police also focused on boy-racer type activity over the weekend, with the pictured car being seized for this type of offending.

ENDS

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