Teacher caught speeding past school

Photo / File

Police have stopped and ticketed several drivers speeding past schools this week - including a high school teacher and a father with his pre-school aged daughter in the back.

Waikato road policing manager, Inspector Freda Grace, said speed and alcohol were "real focus areas" for the region as the road toll had already reached 24, compared with 16 for the same period last year.

"To address this, we've also been targeting speed around our schools all this week with some interesting results."

The teacher was travelling 66km/h past a school in Cambridge and was issued with an infringement notice.

The father was stopped outside a Hamilton school and was travelling at 67km/hr in a 40km/hr zone.

His young daughter sitting in a car seat in the back wound down her window.

"In a very polite voice she pointed out to our officer 'Excuse me Mr Policeman, my daddy always speeds'," Mrs Grace said.

"Unfortunately there was no record kept of what dad said next but what comes out of the mouths of babes can often be such wisdom."

Other incidences included a driver travelling 91km/hr outside a school in a 70km/hr speed zone in Maramarua.

"We even had a woman travelling through a school zone on Tuesday afternoon travelling at a speed of 86km/hr while on the way to the doctors," Mrs Grace said.

"Another driver passing Ohaupo Primary School on Tuesday told our officer he was distracted by his music which is why his speed was 95km/hr in a 70km/hr zone."

Mrs Grace said some of the drivers' excuses for speeding outside schools tested her officers' patience and tolerance.

"A real common excuse is it's not my car- what relevance is that to the speed you're travelling past a school? Another is [that] they were distracted.

"Drivers need to be aware that police are changing our tactics to try and make Waikato roads safer by encouraging drivers to ensure they are compiling with the rules.

"What is good to see is that at the same time other motorists are less tolerant of speeding or drunk drivers going by the number of driver complaint calls we are getting."

Waikato police also cracked down on drunk drivers this week.

Following a call from concerned members of the public on Wednesday, police stopped a driver at the base of the Kaimai Ranges on State Highway 29 who returned a breath alcohol result of 676 micrograms per litre of breath.

The legal alcohol limit for a fully-licensed driver is 400mgms.

A driver was also stopped for travelling at 100km/hr in an 80km/hr zone by Hamilton's Te Rapa dairy factory and returned an alcohol reading of 952mgms.

On Thursday night, 1655 cars were stopped by police in Hamilton with 50 drivers found to have been drinking though none exceeded the current legal alcohol limit.

Earlier in the day a suspended driver stopped driving on the Waikato Expressway had his car impounded for travelling at 170km/h on the Waikato Expressway.