I thought I was only doing 130km/h was the response of a speeding motorist stopped travelling at 70km/h over the posted speed limit on one of the country's most notorious stretches of road.
Waikato Road Policing Manager, Inspector Freda Grace, said the experienced Highway Patrol officer was stunned when a 21-year-old male student told him he thought it was alright to pass a truck at 130km/h on SH2 near Maramarua this morning.
"Given higher than usual traffic flows on popular Waikato holiday routes, our staff were out doing preventative road safety patrols on SH2 and the area where this driver was stopped has a speed limit of 90km/h.
"When stopped the driver had been detected by a laser travelling at a speed of 162km/h but thought he was only doing 130km/h and that was somehow acceptable because he wanted to pass a truck. Speeding to overtake is not ok- speeding at reckless speed is endangerment and will not be tolerated as it places us all at risk."
Mrs Grace said travelling at 130km/h on a road with a limit of 100km/h was unacceptable let alone anyone travelling at over 160km/h on a road where the speed limit had been lowered for safety reasons.
"Over recent years SH2 between Maramarua and Mangatawhiri earned an unenviable reputation as a high-risk stretch of road and subsequently had millions of dollars worth of engineering improvements done to it as part of a comprehensive safety campaign.
"So bad had the road become, media outlets were referring to it before the improvements as the "Highway of death," a reduced speed tolerance along this route was part of the improvements and this was introduced at the request of local residents, frequent users and families of people killed and injured on the road."
Ms Grace said to hear these life-saving initiatives were ignored was concerning and she wondered what else the combined agencies could do other than enforce better driver behavior.
"That driver is facing driving charges and has lost his license for 28 days but the sad thing was, he wasn't alone with several others coming to Police attention.
"Between 9-11am our staff stopped other drivers travelling at 111, 121 and 132km/h, remember, this is a stretch of rural highway where the speed limit is 90km/h. The driver stopped at 132km/h had three passengers and she was quite cross at being stopped saying she would be late to pick up another car already impounded at Kerepehi."
For Police tasked with keeping the roads safe, the reason for what they were doing was found a few kilometres down the road on the same highway a short time later.
"At 12.45pm emergency services were called to a three car collision at the intersection of SH2 and Fisher Rd where one vehicle ended up in a ditch and fire-fighters had to free a trapped casualty.
"The message for today is clear. There is only one place for speed and that is on the racetrack, there is no place for speed on roads clogged with holiday makers all trying to reach the beach in safety."
End