Speedsters clocking up the tickets

Northland's Inspector Wayne Ewers is concerned about the number of speeding drivers caught in Northland last week. Photo / Tania Whyte

A motorist clocked doing 152km/h in an 80km/h zone was among more than 500 infringement notices issued in just one week by Northland police for a raft of offences, including 176 for speeding.

On top of the list - 357 - were an assortment of breaches such as no warrant of fitness or licence label and learner licence breaches, followed by 176 speeding tickets and nine for not wearing a seat belt.

Highway patrol officers issued 542 tickets from Monday to Sunday last week, excluding 17 drink drivers caught over the weekend.

Northland's top traffic officer, Inspector Wayne Ewers, said his officers were still catching between 12 and 20 drink drivers every weekend which was not a good total.

On the overall number of tickets issued, Mr Ewers said it was probably a little higher than usual, but it showed extra rostered police were on duty in the days leading up to and including the long Easter Weekend. "The number of driving complaints had us stopping suspect vehicles and often we'd detect more than one breach per vehicle," he said.

"We get between 40 and 50 driving complaints per day and we attend to 50 per cent of those complaints."

Mr Ewers said 37 of the motorists stopped would appear in court for various breaches, including high-end speeding and drink driving.

The highest speed caught on police cameras over the long weekend was 147km/h, which has resulted in a 28-day suspension of the driver's licence.

From Monday and Sunday last week, the highest speed was picked up by a police radar at 152km/h in an 80km/h zone on the northern side of the Brynderwyn Hills on Tuesday. "It was absolutely ridiculous. The driver was suspended (for 28 days) straight away," Mr Ewers said.

Police were pleased most motorists were driving in the 85 to 95km/h range on the open road over the long weekend. The other high-end speeding driver was clocked at Waiomio (131km/h) which resulted in an infringement notice and demerit points.

On Saturday, police stopped a 22-year-old woman in breach of her learner licence conditions on SH1 south of Whangarei.