Tairawhiti Police urge motorists to slow down on their local roads, after a road policing operation last weekend ticketed dozens of speeding drivers in the space of just three hours.

Police discovered that some drivers are regularly and blatantly ignoring the speed limit, often exceeding it by some margin.

The latest operation ran between Friday 9 and Sunday 11 September, in the mid-afternoon on each day

The roads that were the focus included SH2 Manutuke, which has an 80kph limit. Police issued 20 infringement notices here during two, one-hour periods (the first on Friday afternoon, the second on Sunday afternoon) with the highest speed recorded being 104kph.

Police also issued 12 infringement notices in a one hour period on SH35 Wainui Rd on Saturday 10 September. The stretch of road has a 60kph limit (northbound) and the motorists issued infringement notices were all traveling between 70 and 74kph.

Speed is one of the main drivers contributing to trauma on our roads and Sergeant Steven Murray of Eastern District Road Policing says that he’s staggered that the message still isn’t getting through to some drivers.

“It’s disappointing that some drivers are continuing to put not only themselves at risk, but other road users and people living nearby in the community.

“The speed limit is not a target. Drivers should not only regularly review their speed, but also the surrounding geography, volume of traffic and their fatigue levels and adjust their driving accordingly.”

Police are committed to reducing death and serious injury on our roads and remind motorists that they should expect to see police patrolling the region’s roads anytime, anywhere.

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