He told the recruits getting pulled over was the \u201cdumbest thing I\u2019ve done\u201d as commissioner, saying he was \u201caway with the fairies\u201d at the time.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Garner for his Week in Politics podcast, Williamson defended Chambers, saying he was doing a brilliant job in the midst of the Jevon McSkimming scandal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Chambers is outstanding … and anybody who starts bringing up the fact that he got a speeding ticket, I was Minister of Transport and had, I think, five on the books at some stage for having gone over the speed limit … in the end, just leave that stuff alone, that\u2019s nothing to do with being a good cop or anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williamson finished: \u201cJust get off the grass.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers (left) said he was “away with the fairies” when he was caught speeding last week. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n
Williamson told the Herald his tickets were from before he was Transport Minister from 1993 to 1996, and when the speed limit was in miles per hour.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never got any speeding tickets when I was Transport Minister and I haven\u2019t had any since … I did get a few when I was a young boy at university, and they all predate my parliamentary term.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said on a recent trip to Hamilton <\/a>he was driving with other vehicles at about 112km\/h or 113km\/h, and other cars were passing him.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not talking about doing ridiculous speeds or outrageous speeds, but in the end, some people drive above the speed limit, but within that tolerance zone, and the police seem to allow it,\u201d Williamson said.<\/p>\n He gave two examples in his Howick ward, where speed limits have been an issue \u2013 the Pak\u016branga Highway, where the speed limit was 50km\/h, \u201cand nobody, even the vicar on his way to church on a Sunday, drove at 50\u2033 and the new Reeves Rd flyover <\/a>that opened last month.<\/p>\n Williamson said when the council lifted the Pak\u016branga Highway speed limit to 60km\/h back in the 1990s, the average speed limit travelled by cars came down. When it was 50, he said, \u201cnobody abided by it\u201d and when it was lifted to 60, \u201ceveryone thought that was realistic and abided by it\u201d.<\/p>\n Williamson said the 50km\/h speed limit on the Reeves Rd flyover was appropriate while people got used to it, and work still needed to be done on the intersection with the Pak\u016branga Highway.<\/p>\n But after 12 months or more of a settling-in period, he believed the speed limit should be increased to 60km\/h \u201cso you don\u2019t slow down and speed up again\u201d.<\/p>\n