Driver beats cops in court over covert speed law change

Friday, 14 May 2021

Mike Bryce took the police to court over changes to the speed limit policy.

A man has taken the New Zealand Police to court for breaking the law over changes they made to their speed limit policy.

And instead of just dismissing his claims, the court agreed the current policy was “confusing”.

Mike Bryce had a hearing in Kaikohe District Court on Monday, where he was arguing against a ticket he received, for going 57kmh in a 50kmh zone.

He pleaded not guilty as he believed the police broke the law by scrapping the previously well publicised speed threshold/buffer and not telling anyone.

A lawyer and motoring advocate also agree that the way police are addressing the threshold is confusing and if changes are made, it needs to be made clear.

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Stuff articles published last year revealed that police no longer had a speed threshold and would be policing speed to the posted speed limit all year round.

Previously, besides zero tolerance long weekends, it was understood police could exercise discretion up to 10kmh over the speed limit.

But after initial stories were done, police said there had been no change to the way they policed speed, and there had never been any speed tolerance or buffer.

Bryce said this was incorrect and under contract law there was a “meeting of the minds” agreement, which is when a common understanding created a contract.

In this case he said there was a common understanding between the public and police about the threshold’s existence, and under the “meeting of the minds”, one party is unable to change the terms and conditions without the support and acceptance of the other party.

The court found Bryce guilty but did not fine him and agreed the policy was “confusing”.

He argued that police changing the way they policed speed and not telling anyone was breaking this contract.

The court agreed with Bryce that the current policy was confusing, but said he was going 57kmh in a school zone, so he was still outside any buffer that would exist.

He was found guilty – but not fined – and only charged $30 in court costs.

Road policing director Superintendent Steve Greally said it was not appropriate for police to respond to judicial comment on their policy.

Greally said there had not been any change in policy in the enforcement of the speed limit.

He said any road user travelling over the speed limit could expect to be stopped.

“Our frontline staff continue to have the ability to apply discretion where applicable whilst policing our roads.”

In Bryce’s case he received a ticket on October 16, 2020 while travelling on North Rd, Kawakawa.

Although he was in the proximity of a school there were no students around as it was before school finished.

“I did see the camera van parked on the left side of the road – well off the road on the grass verge several hundred meters before the school.

“As I knew I was not travelling very much over the posted speed limit – but well within the 10 kilometres per hour speed threshold the motoring public have been used to for many years – I had no requirement to react to the fact the van was there.”

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He said he didn't give the camera a second thought until he received his $30 fine in the post.

“I have been driving for 56 years and for as long as I can remember there has been a 10kmh per hour threshold above the posted speed limited in New Zealand openly acknowledged by both the public and the police.”

Bryce said it was very clear the police had decided on their own to dispense with the threshold without consultation with the public.

Hamilton lawyer Roger Laybourn said contracts can be oral or written so Bryce's argument was valid.

He said the way police had addressed the threshold was confusing, but at the end of the day if someone ended up in front of a judge they would only have one question for them.

“Did you go too fast or not?”

At a basic level the limit was the limit and people needed to respect that, AA Motoring general manager Mike Noon said.

However, he, too, agreed if there had been changes to how the police were enforcing things, that needed to be made clear to people.

Noon said he would not endorse anyone setting their cruise control to 109, but thought the threshold existed for other circumstances, like if your speed crept up while passing or going down a hill.

Bryce said he went to court as he wanted to see the police admit the threshold did exist and would continue to exist, providing there were no other driving factors involved.

Information released to Stuff under the Official Information Act showed that in 2019 there were 182 officer issued tickets to people going between 1-5kmh over the speed limit and 11,244 tickets issued to people going between 6-10kmh over the limit.

In 2020 this substantially increased, with 309 tickets issued to people going between 1-5kmh over the speed limit, and 27,652 for people going between 6-10km over the speed limit.