"People need to drive to the conditions, it's not hard to see that it's all white out here. Then further up there is a lot of black ice and to be fair, black ice is more dangerous then white ice because there's no warning," Mr Hamilton said.
A number of minor crashes were also reported to the north of the city near Ngongotaha, particularly between Dansey Rd and Oturoa Rd. Contractors laid grit on the road to help prevent accidents.
"This is traditional this time of year for areas like Dansey Rd, Mamaku, Hamurana, Tikitere," Mr Hamilton said.
"We are aware of these areas [this time of year] but people need to drive to conditions because the council grit truck can only do so much at a certain time."
Rotorua Lakes Council transport operation manager Peter Dine said contractors were dispatched early yesterday morning to spread grit on a number of ice-affected roads in the district, following heavier than forecast frosty conditions overnight.
"Contractors also deployed staff in a number of locations to physically warn motorists of the icy road conditions and to slow traffic down, until grit could be spread. The areas of most focus were around Hamurana, Oturoa, Waikite Valley and Dansey roads," Mr Dine said.
"We understand that New Zealand Transport Agency also had contractors undertaking similar grit spreading work on state highways in a number of locations within the district."
Motorists were are also being warned of ice on the Tauranga Direct Rd at Pyes Pa, which forced drivers to navigate SH36 at 30km/h to 50km/h.
Kelsey Duncan, who commutes each day to Tauranga from Rotorua, said the road was covered in ice.
"The entire way was like ice, you couldn't go above 50km/h. Everyone was driving real slow," she said. "You could see it. It was shiny the whole way from start to just before the school."
