The data provided by police goes back to 2009, when 341,000 fines were issued.
Speeding fines in New Zealand range from $30 for breaching the limit by 10km/h or less, to $630 and an immediate loss of licence for travelling 46-50km/h over the limit.
Police say in recent years they’ve boosted enforcement.
“Speed is globally recognised as the leading contributor to crashes occurring and the severity of outcome,” Inspector Peter McKennie said.
“The messaging from police has been very clear that if you exceed the speed limit you can expect to be stopped.”
AA’s road safety spokesman Dylan Thomsen said there was a reduction in road safety enforcement in the late 2010s, which police have attempted to turn around.
“I guess you could say this has been a refocusing by the police, and they have really targeted some areas that are involved in some of the highest rates of crashes.
“The simple message for drivers in New Zealand is that the police are out in much greater force and targeting speed, so people need to be much more careful around sticking to the limit.”
Thomsen said the increased enforcement has coincided with falling road fatalities.
“It’s hard sometimes to be able to definitively prove these things, but we don’t think it’s a coincidence that we’ve had the lowest rate of road deaths, and at the same time, really high rates of enforcement.”
The figures show December was the busiest month for traffic officers as 50,190 fines were issued.
February was the quietest month, with 39,682 fines handed out.
As police increased enforcement of speed limits, officers also appeared to heed their own advice and the number of police vehicles caught speeding by speed cameras has trended down.
Cameras picked up police-registered vehicles speeding 20 times from January to July last year. Ten of the fines were waived.
The six months of data from 2025 compares with 224 police vehicles being caught speeding by cameras across all of 2024. Sixty-eight of those were waived.
Fines are waived when officers can prove the speed was “necessary in the execution of their duties”, such as in emergencies.
Fines ‘stuck in last century’ – AA
In October, the AA called for an overhaul of speeding fines, claiming penalties were stuck in the last century.
Fine rates were legislated in 1999 and haven’t changed since, despite the median income roughly doubling in the same period.
“We didn’t come up with specific figures, but we certainly felt that as a starting point, if we are going with an inflation adjustment from the 90s, it would effectively mean a doubling of where they are now,” Thomsen said.
He said it’s also about a mix of penalties – including a stronger focus on demerits, courses for repeat offenders, or higher fines for repeat offences.
He said non-monetary penalties are also more equitable, with the impact of a set fine differing based on income levels.
Thomsen said a floating fine system based on personal income would likely be too complicated, but non-monetary penalties would have a consistent impact.
At the time, Transport Minister Chris Bishop said he agreed the level of fines was too low and transport officials were reviewing penalties.
That work continues.
Ethan Griffiths is a political reporter with Newstalk ZB, based in the Parliamentary Press Gallery. He joined NZME as a print journalist in 2020, previously working as an Open Justice reporter in the Bay of Plenty and Wellington, and as a general reporter in Whanganui.
