Holidaymakers faced huge traffic jams north and south yesterday as they tried to leave Auckland.The Northern Gateway toll road and the Kopu Bridge entry to Coromandel Peninsula were jammed as thousands deserted the city.

Police have urged motorists travelling north from Wellington to exercise patience in 'extremely heavy' traffic today. Two people have so far been killed on NZ's roads since the official start of the holiday road toll period.

One of NZ's most experienced road policing officers has resigned, saying the job is taking too great a toll on his health.

Auckland Transport is being asked to consider running bus lanes down the middle of Dominion Rd while reviewing an $84 million upgrade project.

The festive season is a time of excess. But as the country’s top traffic officer Paula Rose tells Alan Perrott, there is little cheer in counting its cost.

Paris will become the first metropolitan area in the world to experiment with an extensive system of self-service hire cars.

Speeds of hundreds of kilometres an hour now common on rail network.

Police have blocked off an inner-city Auckland street after a suspicious substance was found in the carpark of a building that houses the US Consular General and other diplomatic offices.

A driver ran from his car sobbing and yelling: "I checked the road, I checked and it was clear," witnesses say.