A 22-year-old man has been charged with a number of driving-related offences following a police pursuit in the Bay of Plenty.

Police attempted to stop the vehicle due to concerns about the manner of driver near Taneatua around 12pm on Tuesday. After it failed to stop a pursuit was initiated.

Shortly afterwards the vehicle crashed into a truck on the Pekatahi Bridge.

A police spokesperson says the vehicle then reversed into a police vehicle.

'The 22-year-old man has been charged with driving related offences. He will appear in Whakatane District Court on March 12.

'It appears there was minor damage to the side railing of the bridge.”

Because the bridge is single lane, the road was closed for a number of hours while police worked to remove the vehicles.

The road was full reopened at around 2.20pm.

Police say these sorts of incidents are always challenging, dynamic, and complex events for staff.

'Our focus is on preventing harm and keeping people safe on our roads.

'We always face a difficult balance in protecting the public from dangerous driving behaviour and potentially causing the offending drivers to take greater risks.

'Police staff always assess the risk of pursuing fleeing drivers, and take every decision very seriously.

'This is continually reassessed throughout the fleeing driver event.”

Police prefer that anybody who is signaled to stop by police, simply pull over and stop.

It is not worth putting your life, your passengers' life, or anyone else's life at risk.

This is the second police chase in the Eastern Bay of Plenty in the last week.

One person died on Thursday following a police chase in Kawerau.