An Australian tourist clocked doing 170km/h while passing a line of traffic on a stretch of Northland highway has been made to pay $700.
A senior traffic police officer described the man's driving behaviour as a "recipe for disaster" and said it was an extremely dangerous speed.
Highway Patrol Sergeant Lance Goulsbro
said the man was driving a Toyota Aurion rental car when he passed a line of traffic on the Mata straights.
He was southbound and was in the passing lane when a police radar nabbed him doing 170km/h.
The man appeared in the Whangarei District Court last week and was fined and disqualified from driving on this side of the ditch for six months.
The incident happened outside a two-week blitz on speed by officers.
As the summer months approached, with more traffic expected on the region's roads, police would be out targeting speeding drivers - and they made no apology for it, Mr Goulsbro said.
During the latest police campaign, officers issued 360 tickets to speeding drivers and another 712 tickets were dished out for a number of other traffic-related offences, including failing to wear seatbelts, drivers licence infringements, no warrants or registration, dangerous overtaking and failing to keep left.
Mr Goulsbro said the aim was to lower the number of incidents of high speeds.
"People can't expect to be able to speed and get away with it. There are road rules there for a reason ... speed does kill."
He said a majority of the speedsters had been caught travelling between 120km/h and 130km/h.
"We're not apologising for the hard line. We don't like going to fatal crashes where speed is a factor."
