Police have to obey law on speeding

Police Minister Michael Woodhouse

The number of Northland police vehicles nabbed speeding on the region's roads has remained consistent over the past decade with 19 tickets being dished out on average each year.

Statistics released to the Northern Advocate show that, over 10 years, there were 191 tickets issued to police vehicles exceeding the speed limit.

However, 77 of those were waived for officers on the way to urgent jobs.

Northland road policing manager Inspector Wayne Ewers said policing required officers to travel at higher speeds in some circumstances to respond to urgent and emergency situations.

"Staff receive regular training and support to ensure they continue to drive safely and appropriately in these, and other, circumstances."

Tickets were waived in cases where officers had a legitimate need to respond urgently. But, if speed was not found to be justified in the circumstances, the driver responsible was required to pay any speeding infringements incurred.

"Police are just as accountable for their driving as any member of the public and we expect high standards."

Nationally, the number of police caught speeding has climbed almost 80 per cent over the last 10 years.

The figures show 601 police vehicles were caught over the limit by speed cameras in 2005/06.

In 2014/15, that rose to 1078.

Speeding in emergency situations is allowed and, of the about 7000 speeding notices issued to police in the past 10 years, 3606 were waived.

The majority of the almost 180 police vehicles snapped 50km over the limit since 2005/06 were in urban 50km zones.

Automobile Association spokesman Mike Noon acknowledged police had a "rare and right" privilege of being able to speed in some circumstances.

"However, a number of those tickets will be for occasions when the police were not speeding to an emergency and then the rule of the law applies to police as it does to every other motorist."

The Police Association said the increase was because of an increase in speed cameras and the hours police were on the road, plus a rise in urgent call-outs.

"Those numbers of calls for service are increasing, so correspondingly there is a lift in police officers trying to get there and respond as soon as possible," association vice-president Luke Shadbolt said.

Police Minister Michael Woodhouse said police were held to a high standard, which they mostly met. When they slipped from that, they should be treated like anyone else, Mr Woodhouse said.

Penalties for speeding

Speeding fines increase progressively from $30 for speeds less than 10 km/h over the limit, to a maximum fine of $630 for speeds up to 50km/h over the limit.

At more than 40 km/h above the speed limit, you could also get a 28-day licence suspension.

At more than 50 km/h over the limit, you could be charged with careless, dangerous or reckless driving.

Source: The police website