While there were a couple of close calls Waikato Police are telling motorists to 'take a bow” following a fatality free Easter long weekend.

Road Policing Manager Inspector Freda Grace says a very positive theme reported by her staff over the Easter Holiday weekend was the community's engagement on the roads.

Waikato Road Policing Manager Inspector Freda Grace says they are pleased with motorists behaviour on the road following a fatality-free Easter long weekend. Photo: File

'In the best example three male offenders were arrested after police received a number of driving complaints about a vehicle in Hamilton's Glenview late on Friday afternoon.

'Callers advised a car was being driven erratically and collided with a tree shortly after it had hit a car. The three men tried to flee but were run to ground by various members of the public.”

Freda says the first offender was caught by two men at the intersection of Sunnyhills Ave and Dawn Rise.

An off-duty officer took charge of this man who admitted being the driver of the crashed and stolen car.

Then an off-duty fire-fighter pulled up with a second offender, he and his colleagues had heard the crash and gone to investigate what had happened, apprehending the man.

'A third, located further up Dawn Rise, was apprehended by another man who saw him run through his property and across the road. The man apprehended him in a property across the street.

'Seldom do we encounter such a high level of support from the public but those involved a certainly worthy of praise for their efforts on behalf of their community.”

Freda says there were a lot of other examples of people doing the right thing on what were very busy roads.

This includes several members of the public stopping to help three people injured following a collision between a truck and a campervan at Waitakaruru yesterday.

'Police and the other emergencies services attended about 46 vehicle crashes across the district over the Easter Holiday period which took place in what were ideal driving conditions.”

On a less dramatic note, nearly 250 other driving complaints were received by police from members of the public concerning poor driving behaviour.

Freda believes this represents a maturing in driver attitudes with people becoming less inclined to accept poor behaviour on our roads.

'While really pleased at the overall behaviour of the motoring public, two incidents over the weekend indicate just how lucky we were not to have lost someone's life on Waikato roads.”

Mrs Grace said the first incident occurred on Friday afternoon and involved a collision between a motorbike and a car on Cambridge's Victoria St where the rider suffered a broken leg.

Then on Sunday night an 18-year-old man suffered critical head injuries and was airlifted to Waikato Hospital after he crashed a quad bike on Wattle Rd near Horsham Downs.

He had not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.

Freda says the challenge now for Waikato drivers is to keep that momentum going throughout the rest of the year and make it a record low road toll for the whole of 2015.