Tailgaters we're watching you

DON SCOTT/The Press

TAILGATERS BEWARE: Canterbury police are targeting tailgaters in an effort to curb high crash rates along the northern motorway.

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Canterbury police are targeting tailgaters in an effort to curb high crash rates along the northern motorway.

Sergeant John Hamilton was recording speeds and snapping tailgaters, before passing the information on to officers in cars yesterday.

He said police had prosecuted 80 motorists for tailgating over the past month 60 of whom were caught in Woodend.

"We are going where crashes are and the motorway is a grade-two crash area (grade one being the worst).

"We're doing it as a lead-up to wet weather. When we get rain, that's when crashes occur." Police had issued 20 tickets within the past two days near Kaiapoi, which was "quite high", Hamilton said.

"We get a lot of complaints from people about the intimidation factor. People don't like being tailgated, and we deal with a lot of crashes caused by it."

The operation would continue over the next month.

- © Fairfax NZ News