Police beat: Ski racer's lament

Leave the speeding for the slopes, not the roads, is the message from Waikato Police concerned about the speeds of motorists intent on getting the most from the ski season.

Inspector Tooman says the call comes after an incident last weekend when an officer, already busy impounding a disqualified driver's car for speeding, noticed a car speeding down the wrong side of SH39.

"The driver of the first car came to police attention because of his excessive speed but the driver of the second car, a late model Ford Falcon XR8, caused more concern in what were wet road conditions.

"When spotted, the Falcon driver was passing about five cars at Ngahinapouri at a speed of over 140km/h.

"The 24-year-old Auckland driver told the officer he had no idea he was going that fast.

"He will have plenty of time to reflect on it, given he has automatically had his driver licence suspended for 28 days, not to mention a fine of $510."

Mr Tooman says SH39, which runs south from Rangiriri before merging with SH31 just north of Otorohanga, is a popular alternative route for skiers from the north on their way to the ski slopes.

"Often we find people are in a hurry to get to the mountain on Friday night after a busy working week, thinking for some reason the snow's going to melt.

"They leave their run home until the last minute, meaning we often have issues with fatigued drivers making mistakes.

"The second issue we have, as was the case on Saturday, is people being in too much of a hurry to get there, or back.

"We'd rather see high speeds left on the slopes and everyone return to the snow the next week, than have to be picking up the pieces from someone's avoidable error."