Police are applauding the driving of motorists for a lack of crashes despite heavy frost around the region - and the coldest morning of the year at Dunedin Airport yesterday.
Clutha-Taieri area response manager Senior Sergeant Al Dickie said a man in his early 20s was driving a Toyota Hiace van to Dunedin along Three Mile Hill Rd. He lost control when it hit ice on a moderate left-hand bend about 9.30am.
The van spun 180 degrees and travelled across the road and rolled on its side, ''facing the way it came'', Snr Sgt Dickie said.
St John spokesman Ian Henderson said an ambulance attended and assessed the driver at the scene. He was uninjured.
Snr Sgt Dickie said the crash was the only ice-related crash he attended yesterday.
Motorists were "waking up'' to driving to the conditions.
"It seems that way, because there are some treacherous areas. I would like to applaud drivers for taking it easy.''
MetService communications meteorologist Lisa Murray, of Wellington, said the official temperatures at Dunedin Airport plummeted to -7degC yesterday, the lowest temperature recorded at the airport this year.
The coldest temperature recorded at Dunedin Airport was -8.6degC in 2003.
More frosts were forecast across Otago this morning but it would be slightly warmer than yesterday, she said.
It was predicted Dunedin Airport would get a 4deg frost.
Motorists should expect ice on the roads today, she said.
Niwa Climate scientist Gregor Macara, of Wellington, said the mean daily minimum temperature in Musselburgh, Dunedin for July was 1degC.
The normal daily minimum temperature in July was 3.1degC, he said.
There were two more ice-related crashes in the South yesterday morning.
A police spokeswoman said a man was driving a white ute on Hampden-Palmerston Rd (State Highway 1), between Old Main North and Bushey Park Rds. The driver lost control when the ute slid on ice and went down a bank about 8.20am.
A Toyota stationwagon slid off the road after hitting ice at Evansdale, near Coast Rd, about 8.30am.
Mr Henderson said St John was not called to either crash.
