As heavy rain hits the region Western Bay of Plenty Police are urging motorists to concentrate on their driving following a fatal free Queen's Birthday weekend.

Last Queen's Birthday Weekend, seven people died on the nation's roads, and 107 more were injured.

Western Bay of Plenty road policing manager Senior Sergeant Ian Campion is urging motorists to drive to the conditions.

While there were no fatal crashes over the holiday period from 4pm Friday until 6am today, Western Bay of Plenty Police still attended eight crashes in the area.

'Of those, two resulted in minor injuries and one resulted in someone receiving moderate injuries,” says Western Bay of Plenty road policing manager Senior Sergeant Ian Campion.
The moderate injury crash was on State Highway 2, near Whakamarama, at 2am on June 1.

'Apparently there were about 10 people on a vehicle and it appears the driver may have fallen asleep at the wheel.

'At this stage the investigation is not complete. Whilst there was only one person moderately injured, the other nine sustained minor injuries.”

Ian says whilst eight crashes is eight too many, realistically given the additional traffic, the result is acceptable.

'Ideally we would like to see zero crashes on a road network.

'The weather has now turned. We were blessed with some beautiful weather over the holiday weekend and it has turned a bit nasty now so people need to be more careful on the roads.”

He says people need to adjust their travelling distances, slow down and drive to the conditions.

'Be extremely careful out there and make sure you concentrate on what you're doing.”