Police zero tolerance on speeding well worth it

Driving over the speed limit is a crime, and preventing it from happening falls squarely into the police's hands.

I THINK it is far too harsh - and too simplistic - to rubbish the police's zero-tolerance policy because the road toll this holiday period was double last year's.

The critics have already got their knives out, but I would hope the police are not about to justify themselves, because a zero-tolerance practice requires no justification. Criticism of this nature smacks of petulance, a sulky backlash because an "inconvenient" driving enforcement appeared to make no difference.

I'm also a little disappointed with NZ First list MP and spokesman Ron Mark, attempting to make hay out of the "failed experiment" as he put it, describing it as stealth taxation, a revenue-gathering exercise.

It is de rigeur for NZ First to criticise the Government, so I guess NZ First got its cue, but it is a snipe that doesn't carry weight.

He says the zero-tolerance campaign made drivers feel like criminals.

Well, yes you are, if you drive faster than the speed limit.

Self-described prominent road safety campaigner Clive Matthew-Wilson, of the Dog and Lemon Guide, says the campaign did nothing for the high-risk extreme drivers, who were basically immune to road safety messages.

That is a depressing thought, and has some truth. Our paper has often reported on recidivist drivers who keep causing problems, although they tend to be drink drivers, not speeding drivers.

Thankfully, the New Zealand police is not an advertising or promotional agency that has to answer to customers if a campaign doesn't appear to hit its mark. Driving over the speed limit is a crime, and preventing it from happening falls squarely into the police's hands.

They are entitled to enforce the law to the limits of the law, and make no apologies for it.

They are not transforming us from relaxed drivers to anxious drivers, constantly checking the speedo. The zero-tolerance campaign made us a lot more careful about our speed, and that's a good thing. Perhaps we jumped a little whenever we saw a cop car, but people have been instinctively touching the brake for decades at the sight of the cops. That's the speed limit. That's the law. A lot of people died these holidays. But that's only a tiny fraction of the estimated 3 million on the road per day, who got home safe. Who is to say the campaign didn't help them?