Tauranga's road police are happy with a relatively uneventful start to 2018.

Acting Western Bay of Plenty road policing manager Senior Sergeant Wayne Hunter says despite the recent storm and flooding, there have been no significant crashes.

'It was surprising with the weather we had, but there were no major incidents.”

New Year's Day began with what was thought to be the first road toll fatality of 2018, when 69-year-old local man Bronc Taepa died following a car crash on the Maungatapu Bridge.

'That one has come back as a medical event rather than a fatal crash,” says Wayne. 'The post-mortem report said the person died of natural causes, not as a result of the crash, so it won't count towards the road toll.”

The recent Bay Dreams concert at ASB Baypark was of more concern, with pedestrians once again wandering over the busy roads around the stadium.

'Police were present, but amount of people leaving meant we couldn't do much more than try and keep them safe,” says Wayne.

He says the next big operation for road police will be when Term One begins, and police start their campaign targeting unsafe speeds around local schools.