Give us brake, police insist

Tauranga drivers are so bad at stopping at controlled intersections, police who held a traffic sting last week will repeat it in order to get their message through.

Western Bay of Plenty police patrolled rural and urban intersections in an operation targeting drivers failing to stop, give way or even indicate.

Of 180 people ticketed, 155 were fined for failing to stop at stop signs.

Another 15 ran red lights or failed to stop on amber lights, two failed to give way and three did not adhere to roundabout rules.

Sergeant Wayne Hunter said the junctions of State Highway Two with Plummers Point Rd and SH2 with Omokoroa Rd were particularly bad for people failing to stop.

"And those are the areas where we have some of our worst crashes," he said. "We had a guy standing on the side of the road and they still drove through."

Some drivers had admitted seeing the police watching them but thought they had "slowed down enough".

"Stop means stop," Mr Hunter stressed.

"We do have a lot of crashes out there because of the high speed of people coming down the highway."

Stop signs were put in place at certain intersections for a reason.

"There are so many people who haven't come to grips with stop signs and we are going to have to do this again."

The number of Tauranga people who ran through amber lights when they should have safely stopped was huge, he said. There were actually so many, police could only follow up on the more serious ones, Mr Hunter said.

He identified the intersection of 15th Ave and Cameron Rd as especially bad.

Drivers were failing to slow down for the 50km/h zone when coming off the expressway and then found themselves unable to stop in enough time when the lights were orange.

"They actually speed up rather than slow down."

He said it was "amazing" how many people denied they had done anything wrong.

"It's very concerning. All it needs is someone to pre-empt the lights going green for them and then the person going through orange lights turning into red and you've got a disaster right there. They are going to meet in the middle."

The fines cost each driver $150 plus demerit points and each driver was breath-tested, with none recording over-the-limit alcohol levels.

It was not known when the next police sting would be held.

Photo: Western Bay of Plenty road policing Sergeant Wayne Hunter is concerned at how many people police caught failing to stop at controlled intersections. Photo / John Borren