Report them. I do. Any driver that sits 1m off my bumper for a distance of 300m or more while I am already 7-9km/h over the speed limit gets their car rego fired through Community Roadwatch. Offenders typically come out from a side street, hoof it and then sit 1m off my tail. Frankly, I'm not prepared to cop fines nor put up with it especially given that I have no choice but to drive to and from work thanks to what I personally consider decades of extreme automobile centered transport planning in the Auckland Region. (The public transport to my workplace is just about non-existent and cycling is perilous)

Balchy:
Or how about those who travel at 80k's until they hit the passing lane and they speed up to 110?

That behaviour can be just as dangerous

Satch: I've found that drivers on Auckland motorways tend to go noticably slower than they do on Wellington motorways for some reason (I grew up in Wellington and have been living in Auckland the past 5 or so years).

I could sit in the right hand lane on Wellington's motorway going a few clicks over 100 and have to pull over frequently to let faster drivers through. But in Auckland I tend to sit behind drivers going 90-100 in the right hand lane. Oh and all of this is experiences outside of rush hour traffic.

Adamal: Tony, are in in Auckland? Its rare here to see people sticking to 50, and its also rare for a police officer to pull you over. I've been in a flow of traffic going around 55-60kph many many times and cops go by and don't think twice about it.

I'm not having a go, but guessing that things may be different if you're like in Welly or something.
Its like when I was living in Cromwell and rode my bike without a helmet. The police would pull you over without fail.
In Auckland, I was riding on the foot path, and rode right infront of a cop that was stopped in a driveway waiting to pull out and they didn't look twice at me. That wasn't the only cop though that just passed me by.

mtvessel: Oh and by the way, is there some small print on stop signs which says "if you feel like it" or some such?

mtvessel: In my opinion it's stupidity that kills not speed.

Am I advocating that we should be allowed to go as fast as we like on the roads - no I am not - I try to stick to the speed limit at all times.

What I would like to see though, is the police paying as much attention to overtaking dangerously, not indicating and a few other infractions, as they do to speeding and drink driving.

Oh and by the way, is there some small print on stop signs which says "if you feel like it" or some such?

paradoxsm: I now have a Radar detector and will buy a car with cruise control or a speed limiter next time around, prior to that day I would have frowned upon their use but this sour apple really changed my attitude.

One thing I have noticed from a huge number of trips north and south is that police/speed cameras in the Wellington/Manuwatu region "hide in the bushes" elsewhere, the police cars seem to make themselves clearly visible to promote the "safe driving" message or actually patrol also to provide assistance as people break down.

• sAll speed measuring devices are to be operated in an overt manner. Hidden or camouflaged deployment is not to be used unless there is a specific operation targeting offending consisting of:


• Sustained loss of traction; or


• Engaging in an unauthorised street or drag race; or


• Dangerous or reckless driving.


• The operation cannot effectively or safely be conducted using overt means.


• Such operations must be recorded by way of written operation order and pre-approved in writing by the district road policing manager."

freitasm: I agree cops should pay a lot more attention to small things such as not indicating, wrong indication (mainly on roundabouts), dangerous overtaking and more.

Some cops are quite nice - I know a few. But some are just plain having their day. When I bought my first PT Cruiser, back in 2001 it was the only one in Wellington. I was stopped once by a cop on Thorndon Quay who said quite nicely "I hope you don't mind I stopped you, but I wanted to look at the car, if that's alright". I though it was funny and we talked about the car.

Then the week after a quite older cop was on a motorbike behind me and flashed the lights. He stopped me on Cambridge Tce saying "You didn't indicate correctly when changing lanes". I said "Yes, I did", and he replied "You did, but you indicated for two seconds before changing lanes and I was expecting three seconds".

How is that to make someone lose faith in traffic cops? He was rude ("You are not listening. You shouldn't say anything when I am talking to you") and let me go with a "warning" that I think I shouldn't deserve, since my intentions were clear and I had indicated. I see so much worse than that around...