Last month, the national road policing manager, Acting Superintendent Gini Welch, confirmed that all motorists edging over the speed limit at any time of the year can now expect to be pulled over and possibly fined.

It has been a longstanding convention that law enforcement would let minor speeding breaches slide. However, this has been scrapped in favour of a no-tolerance approach.

Previously, besides zero-tolerance long weekends, it was understood police could exercise discretion up to 10kmh over the speed limit.

This news comes after being identified by AT to be high risk roads, have high crash rates, or the speed limit is unsuitable due to the road being winding, hilly or having unsegregated lanes, 700km of roads around the region saw reduced speed limits in June this year. Rodney was one of the areas with the most changes. 

There were 54 deaths and 595 people seriously injured on Auckland Roads in 2018. One of the most effective ways of minimising road trauma involves reducing vehicle speeds, which is what the New Zealand police is hoping to achieve with the new zero-tolerance policy. Speed determines both the likelihood of a crash occurring and the severity of the outcome.

So, remember to double check the speed limits of local roads, as things may have changed in the past six months. Stay safe and avoid a hefty fine by sticking to the limit.