What on earth was he thinking?

Police were left in disbelief over the weekend when an Irish tourist travelling around the Coromandel secured his kayak crossways across the roof of his car out of fear of damaging the vehicle.

The man was stopped on SH25A between Kopu and Hikuai on Sunday afternoon after police noticed the unique style of transporting the kayak.


A tourist was caught with his kayak in a precarious position.

District road policing manager, Inspector Freda Grace, says: 'Regardless that this is a busy, winding rural road already subject to busier than usual traffic flows over the summer, the driver was unrepentant.

"The officer that stopped him was told that if he secured the kayak long-ways as he is supposed to, it would cause damage to the roof of his car.

'To make matters worse, the Tairua officer was already on her way to a vehicle crash and this driver's behaviour could very easily have caused another. Imagine if he'd encountered a cyclist driving like this?”

Freda says at this time of year, eight out of ten motorists travelling on Coromandel roads were likely to be visitors from outside the region, but over the weekend overseas tourists had presented even more concerns.

'Currently a Canadian man and his wife are in Waikato Hospital following a two-car collision in the Athenree Gorge on Saturday afternoon in which six people were injured and the visiting driver is believed to have been at fault,” adds Freda.

'A 16-year-old local girl is currently in Auckland's Starship Hospital with serious injuries.

'The following day emergency services were called to the scene of a two-car collision on Hikuai Road at Duck Creek where four people were injured including one critically where it appears a Swiss driver crossed the centreline and collided with an oncoming car.”

Freda says the weekend's crashes serve as a timely reminder of the importance of all drivers adhering to the road rules regardless of their nationality and a reminder to drive to the conditions.

'Driving conditions varied over the weekend from periods of heavy rain to fine weather. What didn't change were the actual roads,” adds Freda.

'The various routes remained winding and offer quite a challenge to drivers irrespective of if they are used to European or North American highways or Auckland's Southern Motorway, and all motorists need to be at their peak if we are to reach the beach this summer.”

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14 comments

Well

Posted on 17-12-2014 08:54 | By Capt_Kaveman

this is where police should be, out on the road not sitting in a van doing nothing


Oh My God

Posted on 17-12-2014 09:06 | By Surfwatch

Hate to state the obvious.


Oh to be Irish....

Posted on 17-12-2014 09:36 | By Jimmy Ehu

all one can say really, as stupidity knows no bounds.


Its a plane

Posted on 17-12-2014 09:47 | By YOGI BEAR

What else, he wants to fly ....


tourists

Posted on 17-12-2014 12:49 | By herbie83

Hence the need for visitors coming to NZ to sit a driving test. Maybe one for common sense wouldn't go amiss as well.


turkey

Posted on 17-12-2014 13:00 | By water rat

would be interested to know how far he'd travelled like that. and the kopu hikuai would have to be the last road on earth you'd want to see this fruitloop coming at ya.


Capt_Kaveman

Posted on 17-12-2014 13:35 | By Rate1

Your comments are always negative. Get a life man!


i see stupid people

Posted on 17-12-2014 14:06 | By i see stupid people

Why is there never a 40 ton mac truck coming the other way when you need it.


well

Posted on 17-12-2014 14:20 | By NZgirl

he was Irish and .....English man Irish man Scottish man come to New Zealand buy a Kayak.....


Rate1

Posted on 17-12-2014 15:44 | By Capt_Kaveman

so you think everything is perfect, critic is the correct term and give credit where is due


He's NOT Irish

Posted on 17-12-2014 16:25 | By Mohio

The police have apologised for this error.


Did they check

Posted on 17-12-2014 16:52 | By SML

the highway for decapitated cyclists? What a stupid thing for that "motorist" to do, and to learn they weren't fined for careless driving


Stupidity

Posted on 18-12-2014 10:00 | By rosscoo

He should have been fined for stupidity. If this guy thinks that was best way of transporting his kayak doesn't say much for his generation.


Mohio

Posted on 18-12-2014 10:38 | By YOGI BEAR

Irish or not makes no difference to the result here, the comments below say it all.


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