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Police are warning drivers to take it easy on the roads over the Christmas holidays after a road safety blitz flushed out a number of reckless motorists.
Counties Manukau police ordered 11 unsafe vehicles off the road and issued thousands of dollars in fines during Operation Sweep 2, which ran for five hours at the intersection of Beach Rd and James Fletcher Drive in Mangere on Wednesday.
Constable Martin Carroll of the strategic traffic unit said most of the drivers stopped received up to four tickets, and many incurred fines totalling $1200.
Five of 29 taxis stopped were ordered off the road and 19 fines were issued to drivers of non-compliant taxis, which included tickets for incorrect display of taxi numbers.
The blitz followed Operation Sweep 1 which ran in October and produced similar results.
Mr Carroll said the greatest offending occurred in the area of driver licence breaches, with 59 people stopped fined for driving without licences, not displaying their "learner" plates or driving on restricted licences without an accompanying licensed driver.
Also of concern were the 11 vehicles ordered off the road for being unsafe, he said.
Mr Carroll said a third operation was planned for the coming weeks and police would be out in force over Christmas and New Year.
