More than 1500 Western Bay drivers were pinged for going less than 11km/h over the speed limit last Christmas, compared to only 38 in 2009, the year before police started enforcing a lower speed tolerance threshold.
But last year's holiday speeding tickets were nothing compared to the December 2014 and January 2015 period, when 5437 tickets were issued for drivers going less than 11km/h over the speed limit.
In December 2015 and January 2016, 1577 fines were issued to people doing between 1km/h and 10km/h over the speed limit, to a value of $279,270.
Police began enforcing a lower speed tolerance in December 2010.
Police top brass meet in Wellington on Wednesday to discuss adding extra speed cameras to the existing network, an expansion that was first signalled in 2013.
Superintendent Steve Greally, the national manager of road policing, said under the $10 million project, 56 new digital cameras were progressively being rolled out to be installed in high-risk locations.
Fifteen of the new cameras were already in place.
The Bay of Plenty currently has four mobile speed cameras that get rotated around the region and no fixed cameras.
Mr Greally said the exact sites and dates at which the remaining speed cameras would be installed were yet to be confirmed.
Data showed that having a lower speed tolerance limit was having a positive effect on road safety, Mr Greally said, and the number of people going more than 101km/h had reduced each Christmas holiday period since the lower threshold had been introduced.
The plan for extra speed cameras comes on the back of the worst Western Bay road toll for 13 years, with 19 deaths.
AA Bay of Plenty region chairman Terry Molloy said he did not believe more speed cameras was the answer to reducing serious injury and fatal crashes.
"The main small stretch of highway that causes most of these problems is that little bit of highway between the ears," he said.
Mr Molloy said it was time to look at greater investment in education initiatives to encourage more motorists to reduce their speed, but also to drive to the conditions.
"I think we also need to explore introducing some kind of incentive programme for drivers who have clean driving licences, maybe a reduced licence fee could be one option."
Mr Molloy said this could be something that organisations like ACC, New Zealand Transport Agency and the AA could collaborate on.
Brake New Zealand spokeswoman Caroline Perry said she supported the speed camera expansion programme.
Research showed speed cameras did help deter people from speeding and speed cameras should be just one part of the solution, she said.
Mrs Perry said there were a lot of rural roads where the speed limit should be reduced as the 100km/h posted speed limit was not appropriate to the road conditions.
Speed camera tickets issued in Western Bay
2011: 9201 2012: 6703 2013: 2843 2014: 16,718 2015: 9941 2016: 2938 to September 30