Summer spike in Wairarapa speeders

Speed cameras caught 1099 motorists and issued tickets while police officers wrote 594 tickets for a total cost of $88,050.

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

Speed cameras caught 1099 motorists and issued tickets while police officers wrote 594 tickets for a total cost of $88,050. The jump from 554 tickets in 2012/13 to 1693 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.

This summer is likely to be a similar story, according to Masterton traffic officer Sergeant Chris Megaw.

He expected the number of speeding fines issued would probably be similar to last summer, as he imagined the police would decide to implement the same 4km/h tolerance.

"Generally, it's not the financial amount that people fear for lower level tickets, it's the fact of getting a ticket. Hopefully people will respond to the increased enforcement," Mr Megaw said.

It was difficult to establish patterns between crashes in the Wairarapa as the figures were small, but evidence showed targeting drivers who were a small amount over the speed limit affected drivers travelling far above speed thresholds and so the number of serious crashes, he said.

- NZME