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Motorists are becoming smarter about timing their Easter trips home to avoid traffic jams.
Drivers faced long delays trying to get out of Auckland for the Easter break, but traffic moved freely for the return journey last night.
Sergeant Tobias Harrison, of the police northern communications centre, said travellers were possibly becoming more savvy when they left their holiday destinations.
"It's been publicised quite a lot over the past couple of years, so I think there probably is a trend towards people heading out at different times rather than all rushing back at the same time," he said.
"I think people are starting to think more about when they are going to travel."
Paul Ferguson, manager of the Kopu Station Hotel near Thames, said it was surprising and unusual to see traffic flowing freely over the Kopu Bridge on State Highway 25, where congestion at this time of year can mean a wait of 30 minutes or more for motorists.
"It's been surprisingly good, although it was backed up a bit earlier this morning.
"But it's been flowing nicely since then, possibly because it's still the school holidays."
Mr Ferguson said people were probably using alternative routes.
Yesterday afternoon, north-bound traffic on the Southern Motorway was backed up from Greenlane to Otahuhu after a campervan got a flat tyre, and also from Papakura to Ramarama, after a truck got a puncture.
* A 24-year-old woman was flown to Rotorua Hospital in the Bay Trust rescue helicopter in a serious condition yesterday afternoon after the four-wheel-drive she was in rolled several times before ending up in a ditch in Ngakuru, near Rotorua. Three others who suffered moderate injuries were taken to the hospital by ambulance.
The holiday weekend road toll stood at four last night.
