Western Bay of Plenty Police are 'extremely disappointed” drier summer conditions on the road are yet to translate into a decrease in weekend crashes.

Between Friday morning and today, police responded to more than 12 crashes on Western Bay roads, resulting in a baby taken to Auckland's Starship Children's Hospital, falling power lines and a set of traffic lights also hit.

The damaged vehicles from the two-car collision at Tauriko on Saturday morning. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

Western Bay of Plenty road policing manager Senior Sergeant Ian Campion says there were a total of 13 crashes during this period – a number that is too high in his opinion.

'Police work hard to prevent crashes and it just seems to me that people aren't taking the required level of care out there,” says Ian.

'We have got the bulk of the adverse weather patterns out of the way, and with summer fast approaching I would expect crash numbers to be on the decrease.”

Beginning the weekend of crashes was a two-car collision just after 5pm on Friday, where a driver failed to give way at the intersection of Doncaster Drive and Domain Road.

Ian says on Saturday there were a further three crashes including a two-car collision on State Highway 29 at Tauriko's Caltex service station at 10.41am.

'A vehicle turning out of the service station was struck by a northbound vehicle with both vehicles extensively damaged,” he says.

'Two drivers were taken to hospital with moderate injuries.”

At 7.20pm a 16-year-old driver allegedly fell asleep while driving along Te Matai Road, crashing into a power pole about 10km from State Highway 2. They were not injured in the crash.

With the power line down, traffic was diverted through a famer's nearby paddock for about five hours while power was restored.

Sunday recorded the highest amount of crashes - five in total – with the most serious a car crashing into a tree on Fraser Street at about 11.30am.

Ian says the 18-year-old driver, his 20-year-old partner and a one-year-old baby were injured in the crash and taken to Tauranga Hospital with 'moderate to minor injuries”.

Bay of Plenty District Health Board communications manager Diana Marriott confirmed to SunLive yesterday the baby has since been transferred to Starship Hospital.

Starship Hospital is yet to responded with a update on the baby.

Later that afternoon, at 4.20pm, a driver lost control crashing into a wall on 15th Avenue. The driver is to appear in Tauranga District Court this Friday facing drink driving related charges, says Ian.

The final reported crash was at 11.05pm where a car crashed into a set of traffic lights on Hewletts Road, near Totara Street, leaving the lights strewn on the roadside.

Ian says such a high number of crashes is significant and motorists need to take extreme care out on the road at all times, especially with the Christmas and New Year period fast approaching.

'The more crashes we have the more likelihood of serious injury or even worse,” says Ian.