Road policing driver offence data - January 2009 to December 2023

Road policing driver offence data - January 2009 to December 2023

Date Published: 
March 2024

This offence data reflects unsafe driver behaviours commonly associated with road trauma.

This data covers the period 1 January 2009 - 31 December 2023. Data will be updated quarterly.

Please note:

  • The statistics are drawn from a dynamic operational database that is subject to change as new information is recorded or recoded.
  • Figures reported on different dates may vary, due to data being continually updated in relevant police systems.

Alcohol and drug offence data

Includes all offences relating to driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs (including offences committed by drivers aged under 20 who breach the zero breath and blood alcohol limit, and those under the new lowered adult alcohol impairment limit, introduced on 1 December 2014).

Note that tables relating to offences and monetary amounts for drivers aged under 20 who offend have been separated out.

Breath test data

Includes the number of passive and screening breath tests recorded on Police breath alcohol test devices. Evidential test numbers are not included.

In July 2022, the way Police recorded breath tests changed, from a manual process occurring once a year based on the date a device was downloaded, to a process involving partially-automated download, based on the dates that tests were carried out. The new process is shown in a separate table.

Speed offence data

Includes:

  • Speeding offences issued by officers and speed cameras in separate tables.
  • Speeding offences detected by speed band during the months of December and January for the past five years, including the Dec 2014 - Jan 2015 Safer Summer Campaign period, which had a reduced 4km/h speed enforcement threshold.
  • Speeding offences recorded by speed cameras for Police vehicles, including the number of infringements waived due to legitimate operational requirements.It should be noted that due to a change in recording practices in 2014, the data from earlier years cannot be compared with that from 2014 onwards.
  • Offences recorded by fixed speed cameras owned by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency are included. New Waka Kotahi-owned speed camera sites in Tamaki Makaurau have a site code prefixed with “ATS”.

Fleeing driver data

Note that not all Fleeing driver incidents are captured at Police Area-level detail. Therefore, the Police District table should be used to calculate district and national Fleeing driver incident totals.

Police changed reporting systems for fleeing driver reports on 11 May 2023, just prior to a fleeing driver policy refresh on 29 May 2023. The figures provided draw from both old and new reporting systems; it is possible that a small number of reports were recorded in both systems during the transition.

Mobile phone offence data

Includes all offences for using a hand-held device for calling or texting while driving, following introduction of the Land Transport (Road User) Amendment Rule in November 2009.

Red light offence data

Includes:

  • All officer-issued offence notices for running red lights at intersections for both vehicles and pedestrians.
  • All red light camera offences for vehicles only, now broken down by camera site location in this release. Red light camera figures are now broken down by deployment month and year, consistent with other safety camera data tables.
  • Offences recorded by red light camera sites owned by Auckland Transport and Christchurch City Council are included. These sites have a site code prefixed with “AT”, and “CC”, respectively.

Safety belt offence data

  • Includes all restraint use offences (safety belts and child restraints).
  • Excludes restraint equipment offences. 

Fines data

Includes monetary amounts in $NZD associated with the above listed offences where Police has issued an infringement notice that was processed in the Police infringement processing system at face value - the fees associated with these notices can be paid, unpaid or referred to court (bottom tables).

Note: Fees collected from these infringement notices and offence proceedings are transferred into Government funds. The Government determines how it will spend the money collected through its budget processes.

Police's focus is on influencing a change in behaviour of drivers detected committing offences that impact on the safety of them and other road users, not on any fees imposed as a result of infringement notices issued.