Reach the beach safely this summer

Police has announced a commitment to enforce speed limits and new alcohol limits throughout summer and beyond to help keep our roads safe.

The operation was launched at one of New Zealand’s favourite summer hotspots, Piha Beach.

“We expect families will again travel large distances on unfamiliar roads to reach the summer hotspots that New Zealand is famous for,” says Commissioner Mike Bush.

“The aim for all of us, including Police, emergency services and our road safety partners, is to ensure we can all reach the beach safely this summer. To do this we need the help of everyone: drivers, passengers, cyclists and motorcyclists alike.”

Children from Oratia District School joined Police, Fire Service and St John staff to write road safety messages to drivers in the sand.

Commissioner Bush says the event launches a national operation involving more than 8,000 police officers who will be highly visible on the roads.

Anything over the limit is speeding

Police's message is clear: anything over the limit is speeding. All speeding will be stopped.

“Regardless of the cause of a crash, a vehicle’s speed at the time of impact can be the difference between a close call or an agonising stay in hospital,” says Commissioner Bush.

“Our message to drivers is simple: the numbers in the red circles on the side of the road are the maximum speed you can travel safely in good driving conditions.

“Police officers have the discretion to stop and ticket people driving at any speed over the limit every day of the year. And so we should, because New Zealand has seen that when people travel at safe speeds, our roads are safer and calmer for all.”

Police would prefer not to issue any speeding tickets because it would mean drivers were travelling at safe speeds. But if you’re over the speed limit - at all - expect to be stopped.

Our partners

The road safety campaign is backed strongly by road safety partners ACC, NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and the Ministry of Transport.

ACC Manager of Motorist Injury Insurance Paul Gimblett says slowing down takes a significant amount of the energy out of crashes. “The faster you go, the worse your injuries will be.

“In 2012-13, ACC received around 85 road injury claims a day over summer. That’s 85 families impacted, a total of 7500 people hurt on our roads and a huge cost to New Zealanders.”

NZTA Road Safety Director Ernst Zöllner says most Kiwis support Police in working to keep families and our communities safe by targeting speeding drivers who put others at risk.

“We want people to be travelling at safe and appropriate speeds all the time on all of our roads, because the ultimate goal is to reduce tragic and avoidable deaths and injuries,” he says. 

Get involved

Police invites New Zealanders to get involved using the social media hashtag #ReachtheBeach. We encourage people to write their own road safety messages in the sand, take photos and share them.