National road-policing manager Superintendent Steve Greally said new fixed-location digital speed cameras which operated 24 hours a day and a lower speed tolerance during summer also contributed.
Mr Greally said police did not take the number of infringements issued as a measure of success.
"The true measure is having fewer people injured and killed on our roads, with long-term trends showing that the road toll continues to decline over time," he said.
"The infringement data reflects the most common high-risk driver behaviours that feature in fatal and serious crashes attended by our staff every day.
"That's why police, supported by its road-safety partners, are continuing to focus on speeding, drink and drug-impaired driving, distraction and other risky behaviour on the roads."
All the money collected through fines went to the Government, not police, Mr Greally said.
"We'd be delighted if there was never another notice issued for these offences, as this would mean everyone was driving sober, at a safe speed, stopping where appropriate, wearing their seatbelt and not driving while distracted by their cell phone.
"If that were to happen, the road toll would plummet, there would be fewer children missing a parent, thousands fewer hospital beds would be taken up by people injured in road crashes, waiting lists for other surgery would be slashed, and the country would be a much healthier, safer and happier place," Mr Greally said.
AA spokesman Dylan Thomsen described the increase as "staggering".
The AA was always disappointed to see large numbers of speeding tickets issued as it was evidence of "a system that's not working very well", he said.
The organisation was pushing for the police to go back to using fixed speed cameras rather than mobile ones and have signs alerting people to cameras in the area, Mr Thomsen said. "The reason for that is those are black-spot sites.
"They are chosen for cameras because they have a history of speed-related crashes," he said.
Caroline Perry, New Zealand director of Brake: The road-safety charity, said she supported any effort to stop people speeding.
"Speeding is breaking the law and it's putting lives at risk if people are being caught speeding, there's no excuse because you are breaking the law."
Ms Perry said internationalresearch showed that issuing speeding tickets helped raise awareness about the problem.
Road-safety campaigner and Dog and Lemon Guide editor Clive Matthew-Wilson criticised the police policy of lowering the speed tolerance during holiday periods.
"There is little or no evidence that the police anti-speeding campaign is having any effect on the road toll whatsoever.
"Ticketing ordinary motorists for minor infringements is counter-productive because it alienates otherwise law-abiding citizens without addressing the real causes of most fatalities," he said.
"The police anti-speeding strategy is based on a discredited theory that if you ticket mums and dads who drift over the speed limit, then criminals will stop driving recklessly.
"This claim is simply not based on any credible science.
"The facts are these: only about 20 per cent of fatalities occur above the legal speed limit. Of these 20 per cent of fatalities that occur above the speed limit, most involve either drunks, motorcyclists or young working-class males who live on the edge of the law. There is simply no evidence that rigid enforcement of speed limits has made the slightest difference to the behaviour of these high-risk drivers."
Mr Matthew-Wilson said that a better way to reduce the number of road fatalities would be to improve the roads.
