Police credit public for safe Easter Holiday Weekend

Western Bay of Plenty Police are crediting personal driver responsibility for a relatively safe holiday period on Bay of Plenty roads over Easter.

Acting Senior Sergeant Mike Owen, of the Western Bay of Plenty Road Policing Unit, said there were 19 crashes reported throughout WBOP over the Easter Holiday period, but given the bad weather, he was pleased with that figure.

"I definitely expected a lot more crashes than that. The weather was atrocious, but I must say, the vast majority of motorists seemed to show a more responsible attitude toward their own driving behaviour, with a very small minority letting themselves down," he said.

One of those was on Easter Sunday, when a motorcyclist was caught doing 150 km/h on State Highway 2, Papamoa. The 51 year old local said he didn't realise he was going that fast.

A further 16 people were caught exceeding the speed limit by 16 km/h or more.

During the Easter holiday period, more than 3500 motorists were breath tested, with 21 people caught over the drink-drive limit.

Acting Senior Sergeant Owen said that while this was five less than Easter 2010, it was still 21 too many.

"There really isn't any excuse for drinking and driving. The publicity around this is very good, and the message is very clear ... If you Drink and Drive, you really are an Idiot.

"Police will be having a blitz on drink-driving next month so if you are going to drink and drive, expect to get caught."