Quiet long weekend on the roads

POLICE say motorists are getting the message about not driving while drink or drug impaired.

Only one drinkdriver was processed in Dunedin over the long weekend.

There were 10 crashes in the Otago coastal area, but none of the crashes involved injuries.

Otago coastal road policing team leader Senior Sergeant Jared Kirk said police were mainly happy about driver behaviour over the weekend, especially because of the World Rugby Cup semifinals, but were disappointed by people speeding.

‘‘A 19yearold male was caught on State Highway 1, north of Dunedin, speeding and carrying passengers, having had his restricted licence for only several weeks.’’

Snr Sgt Kirk said police knew there would be more people travelling because of the long weekend, so prepared accordingly, including setting up breathtesting stations.

‘‘A 19yearold male will be going to court for excess breathalcohol levels after failing at one of the breathtesting checkpoints we had set up on Saturday.’’

A motorcyclist killed in a crash in Taranaki on Sunday afternoon was the sole person to die on New Zealand roads over Labour Weekend.

The official holiday road toll, which started at 4pm on Friday, ended at 6am yesterday.

The one death is equal to the sole road death recorded during Labour Weekend in 2013, then the lowest road toll recorded since the first available records for holiday periods started in 1956, the Ministry of Transport said. — additional reporting The New Zealand Herald