Lower speed threshold leads to big ticket haul

STICK TO LIMIT: Lowering the tolerance from 10 km/h to 4km/h caught out 7227 local drivers last summer. PHOTO/FILE

More than three times as many speeding tickets were issued in Hawke's Bay last December and January than the year prior - costing summer drivers dearly.

Speed cameras caught 7227 motorists and issued tickets while police officers wrote 2490 tickets for a total cost of $526,200.

The jump from 3173 tickets in 2012/13 to 9717 last year is largely a result of lowering the speed threshold to 4km/h over the limit rather than the previous tolerance for up to 10km/h, officials believe.

Eastern road policing manager Inspector Matt Broderick said he hoped drivers would learn to stick to the speed limit this summer.

"In an ideal world you would expect the number of infringement notices issued would start to decline as the public realise we show no tolerance for speed for good reason, " he said.

A slight reduction in mean speed before the summer showed a big change in attitude, however more patience was needed, Mr Broderick said.

"People think if they drive 10km/h faster they'll arrive at their destination much faster - but they won't. If you're driving 10km/h faster for 10km you're only going to save a minute or minute and a half.

Drivers should not think of the speed limit as a target, he said. "In some conditions, you've got to go below it."

Nationally, the number of camera-issued speeding offences in December and January were more than double the same period any other year for the past five years, at 256,500 for $11,504,460.

Officer-issued speeding offences were similarly highest last summer at 62,254 for $5,783,930.

The road toll during the reduced speed period was 42, which was a 26 per cent reduction in road deaths compared with the same period the previous year. Twenty-three deaths in December was the lowest recorded for that month since records began in 1965, while 19 deaths in January was the second lowest for the month.

Police plans for tackling speed this summer would be announced later this month, national police spokesman Kevin Sinnott said.