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Gales plague homeward journeys

Published: 6:41PM Monday October 22, 2012 Source: ONE News

High winds have been causing problems for drivers heading home after the long weekend.

Four motorbikes crashed just south of National Park, with two of the drivers suffering moderate injuries.

Other motorists heading through the North Island's central region have also found the wind tough going.

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Pulling over for a break after a windy trip south was made easier by a driver reviver stop set up to give motorists a rest.

Many of those who stopped say the wind has been the biggest challenge as they head home.

"Pretty windy out there at the moment, so got to be pretty careful today, coming down," said motorist Gordon Davidson.

"It's not been the greatest ride, especially over the Desert Road."

But police have been out in force in the central region over the weekend in an attempt to keep the road toll down.

"This weekend we've had extra patrols out on the highways," said Senior Sergeant Kris Burbery of central police.

"And we've rostered people into risk locations and locations that we know there's going to be additional traffic and where crashes have occurred in the past."

Officers have been stopping traffic heading into Bulls, and other than a few Warrant of Fitness and car registration problems, it was "so far so good" this afternoon.

But police say the safety message is not getting through to some on the open road.

"People are still speeding," Burbery said.

"We need to remind people that there is a four kilometre [an hour] tolerance over this holiday period and we have had reports that people simply aren't wearing their seat belts."

Road users say there are still drivers overtaking in dangerous places, but the majority seem to be taking care.

"They've all been quite well behaved, little bit of wet weather, but everybody travelling quite well," said driver Norm Pritchard.

Police say fatigue is a difficult problem to tackle. Being tired is not an offence, but they are urging motorists to make the most of driver reviver stops, or just pull over if they are feeling tired.

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