Distracted holiday drivers are causing a large number of nose-to-tail accidents around the city, says acting Western Bay of Plenty road policing manager Sergeant Wayne Hunter.
'Drivers have got to watch for distractions, there have been a lot of nose to tail accidents from drivers not paying attention to what is in front of them, a lot of people are still in holiday mode.”
Speeding over the holiday period has not been a major issue, and police have not noticed a difference in the numbers of speeding vehicles being stopped on the Tauranga Eastern Link.
The speed limit of the TEL from Papamoa to Paengaroa was raised to 110km/h on December 11.
'Nothing's changed it is exactly as it was before, no difference at all,” says Wayne.
Police have noticed TEL speedsters are being stopped at speeds well over the limit.
'They are either not speeding, or doing 130km/h or more. There don't seem to be any in between.”
One German driver was stopped at 164km/h and told police they thought they were on an autobahn, where rural sectors have no speed limit.
One result of the increased speed limit has been to reduce the fines for speeding drivers.
At 140km/h a speeding driver is 30km/h over the posted speed limit, which means they will be fined, but will escape the automatic licence suspension – unless there are other factors involved like a high level of drink driving.
15 comments
M.Mouse
Posted on 03-01-2018 13:35 | By M. Mouse
I rather had that the cops would do something about the red light runners,txters and people who constantly drive on the right hand lane while there is no traffic in the left
Confused!? You will be after reading this!
Posted on 03-01-2018 16:48 | By CC8
Mr Mouse, why does it annoy you that someone would drive in the right hand lane when there is no traffic on the left? .....How do you know about it ? If you were on the left then there would be traffic on the left, if you are on the right and there is no traffic on the left , then you are doing the same as the other driver...DRIVING ON THE RIGHT when there is NO traffic on the left!!
me wonders
Posted on 03-01-2018 17:03 | By old trucker
my personal view only on this subject, i do not see any difference between blue line and us, that i know is quick at 164, (BUT) these late model cars its easy, for goodness sake blue line was doing way over that the other week on the TEL going to a accident out there, (SO WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE ) between police cars and all these other cars out there, ARE THEY BULLET PROOF over 160, me dont thinks so,TEL should be like NT Darwin where its open speed limit.these modern cars are safe as chips at that speed, if i was a blue line person i would not have stopped him, he never killed anybody or hurt anyone,it happened just a warning would do, i see know difference,Sunlive, Thankyou,10-4 out,phew.
Really!
Posted on 03-01-2018 19:58 | By triplediamond
How about we make sure all drivers are capable of driving safely before we let them obtain a drivers licence?Too many unskilled drivers behind the wheel.Wake up NZ politicians!The nut behind the wheel causes all crashes... not speed, not weather, not roads, not disctractions! The cause is the driver.
@ M Mouse
Posted on 04-01-2018 00:30 | By The Caveman
Tend to agree. Red light runners a a bigger problem that the odd 164+ driver on the TEL. Question ?? What was the make / age of the car that was doing 164+ ?? 90% of the upper level modern cars will pull 200+ at the blink of an eyelid..................
CC8 confused
Posted on 04-01-2018 08:49 | By maildrop
What M.Mouse said is correct and perfectly understood by those with a brain. Most countries where you drive on the left require drivers to keep to the left, where there are multiple lanes, to avoid others having to undertake, which is dangerous, to get past the "fast lane" hogger. Undertaking and hogging are both offences. But hey, as NZ has such a good crash rate, lets go with NZs rules instead of driving how the hell you please. Yee haw. Usual display on here of wallies who think just because a car can do 164, then all is well!
Police
Posted on 04-01-2018 09:45 | By Told you
It is much easier to catch motorists doing over the speed limit than doing proper policing such as red light runners, and stopping slow drivers who are the worst of them all.You cant blame the drivers as the roads in N Z are shocking,our state highways are a joke.
M.Mouse
Posted on 04-01-2018 22:18 | By M. Mouse
@cc8If u drive in the left lane and u do the speed limit and not under, as you most likely do you will catch up to the next person.Then u overtake, when there is someone driving in the right lane hardly doing speed limit you can't overtake.That's when people start to undertake which I am not a fan of.Cc8 does that make sense
Telling you
Posted on 05-01-2018 02:15 | By maildrop
Research has proven that it's the same people who speed, run red lights, use their phone, etc,. So the Police are catching the right people. I just love seeing all the wallies who have racked up tickets coming on here complaining about "the others", who they perceive as the problem. By slow drivers I suspect you mean those who get in your way by not doing 10,20,30 over the limit or whatever you desire. You should get right up their backend, see what that does. If the cops see it guess who gets pulled? Is the penny dropping yet? Keep racking up the tickets wallies and getting stressed behind the slow coaches. I think some of these modern cars are more intelligent than the driver. And if you've ever ventured further than Tauranga you'd know that the roads here are way better than US, UK and Europe.
M.Mouse
Posted on 05-01-2018 09:43 | By M. Mouse
Ok how about I even had it in a big green truck with lots of lights and and a loud siren going at the same time and people still not moving away and that was on Cameron road where I eventually had to undertake.They need some serious education here to be honest
@Maildrop
Posted on 05-01-2018 09:53 | By Told you
So you think our roads are the best around with just a white line separating traffic think again if you call these a state highway.As for slow drivers on the open road if you think they dont cause accidents you live in la la land not N Z
@ Maildrop
Posted on 05-01-2018 12:44 | By Told you
I have been lucky enough to have driven on a German Autobahn so if you think N Z has good roads you are sadly mistaken.
Telling you
Posted on 06-01-2018 22:01 | By maildrop
Hmm..slow drivers causing accidents? Don't think so. Maybe the odd one where it was a contributing factor but the facts state it's you in la la land. I don't recall any where a "slow driver" was deemed responsible, or anywhere near it. Maybe contact the Police and Govt and tell them their facts are wrong. In the meantime keep racking up the tickets and complaining of slow drivers. It might resonate. Having lived here for a number of years and overseas for many years I too have driven on an autobahn. As well as all across Europe and UK. Not holiday driving. Motorways make up a very small part of the road network. The vast majority of the network is single lane, and not in great state. Yet their crash rate is lower (certainly UK and Germany to name just two). Why is that?
Double take
Posted on 07-01-2018 21:46 | By maildrop
"Lucky enough to have driven on an Autobahn"?! That's funny. Where does look come into driving on a lump of grey concrete? Just buy a ticket to Germany! No luck needed at all. It's hardly Hacienda. Hahaha
Maildrop
Posted on 29-01-2018 13:26 | By Kenworthlogger
I too have driven in Europe and North America and all their roads are better than NZ roads... No coarse chip roads which melt were seen or roads covered in loose coarse chip which should have been swept off. Remember when the Berlin Wall came down and suddenly all the East Germans were on the autobahn in their crappy eastern block cars. Suddenly the German crash rate rose as heaps of them were having wipeouts. Why? Lack of driver training like in West Germany and better cars in West Germany like Bavaria motor works and Mercedes etc. Much better drivers in much better cars equals less fatalities.
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