Road policing national operations manager Inspector Peter McKennie said police would be focused on preventing the "risk-taking" behaviour that was responsible for killing and injuring people on the roads.
"This includes targeting high-risk driver behaviour that puts all road users at risk -- including drink- and drug-impaired driving, speeding, and failing to wear safety belts."
Mr McKennie said in addition to breath testing and other high visibility policing tactics, a reduced 4km/h speed limit threshold would be enforced, as it had since Queen's Birthday Weekend in 2010.
This meant anyone caught exceeding the speed limit by more than 4km/h, by a speed camera or a police officer, would be ticketed.
"There are really simple things that everyone can do to make us all safer on the road, whether it's taking a few seconds to put a safety belt on, stopping a drunk driver from getting behind the wheel, reporting instances of dangerous driving, or simply making sure you plan your journey and drive fresh so you reach your destination safely," Mr McKennie said.
The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has urged motorists heading away for a well-earned Easter break to plan ahead for a safe and stress-free journey.
NZTA road safety director Ernst Zollner said factors such as increased traffic volumes, people driving long distances on unfamiliar roads, driver fatigue and the general stress from traffic jams and noisy children could make driving risky this weekend.
"All of these things can make holiday driving difficult, and everyone makes mistakes, but by planning ahead you can make things easier on yourself and make sure you get to your destination safely," he said.
Mr Zollner said NZTA had crunched data from the last two years' Easter weekend holiday periods to compile a list of likely holiday congestion spots.
This list could be found on the Transport Agency's website, Mr Zollner said.
The long weekend would also impact public transport timetables this long weekend.
In Auckland, buses and ferries would run on Sunday timetables on Good Friday and Easter Monday, an Auckland Transport spokesman said.
There would be no NiteRider service tomorrow, and the Airbus Express and the Airporter 380 service would operate to a public holiday timetables tomorrow and on Monday.
There would be no ferry services for West Harbour, Pine Harbour, Gulf Harbour, Hobsonville or Beach Haven this weekend.
All train services would be replaced by rail bus services from tomorrow, to allow for improvements and maintenance work on the rail network, the spokesman said.
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Traffic information for Aucklanders this long weekend:
In Auckland, traffic was expected to build from around 3.30pm today, particularly at the Northern Gateway Toll Road on SH1, NZTA said.
Last year, there were 18,500 toll road trips on the Thursday immediately before the start of Easter -- 4000 more than normal on a Thursday.
For this reason, drivers heading north were encouraged to pre-pay their Northern Gateway toll online.
Motorists heading north from Auckland today were also warned that SH1 at Wellsford would be busy between 3.30pm to 8.30pm and again tomorrow, from 8am to 4pm.
For those heading south, SH2 at Waihi would be busy today between 2.30pm to 7.30pm, and again from 11am to 2pm tomorrow.
The quiet Easter period would also be used to complete major works on the SH1 Ellerslie widening project and Northwestern Motorway, NZTA said.
This meant there would be road closures across parts of Auckland, and motorists were urged to check NZTA's website for more details.
The St Lukes Road overbridge would be closed from 8pm today until 5am on Tuesday, to build up the existing road levels and construct the approaches to the new, higher overbridge.
At the Te Atatu interchange, both of the citybound on-ramps would be closed from 10pm today until 5am Tuesday.
The citybound motorway at Te Atatu would be reduced to one lane during the day, between 5am and 10pm, and then closed at night to lower the Te Atatu citybound motorway on-ramp and raise a portion of the motorway, near the bridge.
The Ellerslie-Panmure Highway citybound on-ramp, and the left-lane citybound between the Ellerslie-Panmure Highway to Main Highway overbridge, would both be closed from 8pm to 6am each night, from today until Tuesday, April 6.
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