{"id":357581,"date":"2026-03-31T22:56:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T22:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/357581\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T22:56:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T22:56:13","slug":"the-road-with-a-1700-surge-in-speeding-tickets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/357581\/","title":{"rendered":"The road with a 1700% surge in speeding tickets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hadyn<\/p>\n

\nHadyn Ellis said the jump in speeding tickets indicated that locals were not happy with the road’s new, lower speed.
\nPhoto: LDR \/ Max Frethey\n<\/p>\n

The number of speeding tickets issued on Tasman’s Moutere Highway has skyrocketed by more than 1700 percent.<\/p>\n

The high-risk rural road is one of several that had its speed limit lowered by the Tasman District Council last year, following a comprehensive review of local speed limits.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Most of the road had been 100km\/h, but it was dropped to 80km\/h in August 2025.<\/p>\n

From 1 September 2024 to 28 February 2025, police recorded 47 speeding infringements on the Moutere Highway.<\/p>\n

In that same six-month period a year later, after the speed limit had been lowered, 848 speed infringements were recorded – an increase of 1704 percent.<\/p>\n

The total face value of the fines issued also leapt from $4480 to $72,590.<\/p>\n

\"No<\/p>\n

\nIn a six-month period following the speed limit reduction, 848 speeding infringements were issued by Police on the Moutere Highway.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Tom Kitchin\n<\/p>\n

Long-time Upper Moutere resident Hadyn Ellis said the increase was “unbelievable” and showed that people were not happy with the lower speed limit.<\/p>\n

Ellis had previously started a petition to increase the speed limit on the route to 90km\/h – a “compromise” between those who want the road at 80km\/h and those who want 100km\/h.<\/p>\n

“[The increase in tickets] says to me that the 90, what we’re proposing, would be a more fair and realistic speed, because people feel as though they’re being held up.”<\/p>\n

Since Ellis’ petition was reported on in early March, the number of verified signatures on Change.org has climbed from 200 to over 1800.<\/p>\n

He was not sure how many signatories were from out of the region, though he speculated that “at least half” were locals.<\/p>\n

“I’ve just been amazed; it’s just kept on climbing. I’m really surprised it’s got as high as it is.”<\/p>\n

\"Local<\/p>\n

\nLocal AA branch chair Kyle Lightfoot said the organisation had opposed the lower speed on parts of the route, but that drivers should still obey the law.
\nPhoto: LDR \/ Max Frethey\n<\/p>\n

Chair of the Automobile Association’s Nelson District Council, Kyle Lightfoot, said the ticketing increase was “astounding”.<\/p>\n

He now used cruise control when driving the route because it was easy for drivers’ speed to exceed the new, lower limit.<\/p>\n

“However, we should all try to abide by the law, and the law is an 80km\/h speed limit, at the moment,” he said.<\/p>\n

“But it’s unfortunate that it is such a huge increase.”<\/p>\n

He highlighted that speed limit signs were regularly repeated – national guidance was for 2.7km intervals between the signs on 80km\/h roads.<\/p>\n

“It’s not through lack of telling people that the speed limit is 80km\/h, because it’s blatantly there in front of them, so whether it’s just old habits die hard, I don’t know.”<\/p>\n

In its submission to the council on the speed limit changes, the local AA branch supported the 80km\/h limit on the “quite dangerous” stretch between the villages of Upper and Lower Moutere but had sought 100km\/h to be largely retained between Upper Moutere and State Highway 60.<\/p>\n

Lightfoot said the AA was aware of Ellis’ petition, but he was not sure if increasing the speed limit to 90km\/h would reduce the number of speeding tickets.<\/p>\n

\"Moutere-Waimea<\/p>\n

\nMoutere-Waimea councillor Mike Kininmonth said the speed limit had been lowered to reduce harm, and that the high number of tickets was disappointing.
\nPhoto: LDR \/ Max Frethey\n<\/p>\n

Mike Kininmonth is the only incumbent Moutere-Waimea councillor who also sat on the council last term, when it voted on the speed limit changes.<\/p>\n

He said he was “surprised” by the “huge” increase in speeding tickets.<\/p>\n

“I’m disappointed that there’s so many drivers exceeding the speed limit. It’s been well signposted, it’s been well advertised, it has been done for a reason: to reduce accidents and harm.”<\/p>\n

He was not convinced that the speed limit should be increased again and would want to see more evidence, such as updated crash statistics and next year’s ticket data.<\/p>\n

“We get petitions every now and again, and a lot of it is emotional. I just need to see the evidence before I change my mind,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Speeding is going to get you somewhere a few seconds earlier than you normally would have, but would you have been safe?”<\/p>\n

Tasman road policing manager, Inspector Marty Tunley, said that police did not patrol the Moutere Highway more than usual after the speed limit was reduced.<\/p>\n

“Overall, the number of infringements issued represents a fraction of total traffic on the highway.”<\/p>\n

Motorists had a responsibility to drive responsibly and monitor their speed, he said, adding that speed was the leading contributor to crashes and the severity of the outcome.<\/p>\n

“Our focus is on keeping everyone safe; the faster you travel, the greater the risks if something unforeseen occurs,” Tunley said.<\/p>\n

“This is not about revenue; it’s about saving lives and preventing death and injury on our roads and the heartbreak that far too many families have had to endure.”<\/p>\n

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hadyn Ellis said the jump in speeding tickets indicated that locals were not happy with the road’s new,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-357581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}