Wet weather driving lessons

A vehicle crashed into a bus shelter in wet weather this morning. Photos: Tracy Hardy.

Police are warning people about driving habits after a car crashed through a bus shelter on Ohauiti Road at about 9.30am today.

'What's really important is that people need to read the road,” says Western Bay of Plenty road policing manager Senior Sergeant Ian Campion.

'What I mean by that is you actually have got to physically concentrate. Don't allow any distractions to come in because it only takes moment of inattention to lose control.”

The rules for driving in inclement weather are the same for rain, fog and frosts.

'It's about concentrating and reading the road and adjusting driving to the conditions,” says Ian.

'It's just about knocking off some speed, so slowing down, extending following distances, because in the wet weather it takes almost twice the distance to stop. Just focussing on the drive really.”

There were three intersection crashes yesterday caused by drivers failing to give way. They received infringement notices.

At 4am today a car drove through a fence and into a paddock alongside Matapihi Road.

'Fortunately there was no stock in the paddock.”

Police have yet to locate the driver.

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7 comments

Driving to the conditions,

Posted on 22-06-2017 11:29 | By Angel74

slowing down is in the too hard basket for a lot of drivers, especially on ohauiti road more like see how fast you can go and long you can do a burn out for, think the police should park out in plain cars out of uniform near the poike road ohauiti road intersection they wouldnt be bored believe me........


It's the wild west out there!

Posted on 22-06-2017 11:35 | By Border Patrol

Driver behaviour on our roads is appalling. The usual suspects include speeding, tailgating, texting, ignoring limited speed zones and general discourtesy to other road users. I've said it before, the only way to get through to people is to have a visible police presence on our roads, and for them to also target unroadworthy vehicles. I also wonder if perhaps we should have re-testing of drivers licences (practical and road code) every 10 years or so.


Crikey

Posted on 22-06-2017 13:04 | By overit

Just as well no-one was in the shelter. Clowns the lot of them.


Wow

Posted on 22-06-2017 15:34 | By Lvdw

someone driving badly in wet weather.... no surprises there.


Culture

Posted on 22-06-2017 16:37 | By maildrop

Another thing New Zealand are world champions at. Add it to domestic and child abuse. Some cultures are bordering on barbaric.


Come on people!

Posted on 22-06-2017 18:12 | By Small

Why be so quick to hammer someone when you don't actually know what really happened, the car accident was actually just that! No crazy driving or excess speed, just an unfortunate accident. No need to just automatically pull people down.


Small

Posted on 22-06-2017 18:28 | By maildrop

No such thing. It will have been due to one, or more, of a number of factors that are entirely in the control of the driver. No excuses. Lucky nobody was crushed in the shelter. If a loved one of yours had been in the shelter and been killed or injured, would you call it an unfortunate accident? Doubt it.


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