AA: Cops' speed tolerance cut will have little impact

Speed is estimated to contribute to about a third of all fatal crashes. Photo / APN

The 10km/h tolerance on speeding drivers may be cut all year round, police have indicated.

However road safety campaigners are not convinced the move would make much difference to the road toll.

Since Queen's Birthday weekend 2010, the tolerance has been lowered for speeding drivers to only 4km/h for public holidays, which police say has led to a drop in fatal crashes during these periods. The lower tolerance is to be used for the rest of February, and now the national manager of road policing has hinted it may be lowered permanently.

"We are of the opinion that it's having a positive effect on the road toll. On that basis, we would be considering it very seriously," Acting Superintendent Rob Morgan told the Dominion Post. "It will really be an evidence-based decision, it's about an assessment of whether it saves lives."

The lower speed tolerance was bought in for the Queens Birthday weekend 2010 after 12 people died on New Zealand roads during the Easter weekend. That Queen's Birthday saw a huge turnaround with only two deaths and a more than 30 per cent reduction in crashes.

A police spokesperson told the Dominion Post crashes during holiday periods had been cut by 46 per cent.

However Automobile Association motoring affairs general manager Mike Noon told the paper that focus should be on excessively fast or excessively slow drivers.

Clive Matthew-Wilson, editor of the Dog and Lemon Guide, agreed, saying the majority of fatal crashes occur at speeds below the legal limit.

He accused the police of "massaging the statistics to suit their argument".

"When the road toll goes down over a holiday weekend, the police claim credit. When it rises by nearly 50 per cent, as it did last Christmas, they blame the drivers. They can't have it both ways."