Speeding tickets and speeding fines
A speeding fine in New Zealand is a fee from a fixed ladder — nine bands, priced by how far over the limit the speed was recorded. Whether that same offence also costs you demerit points depends on something most people are never told: how it was detected.
The answer most people are looking for
A speed camera ticket carries the fee — and no demerit points
Detected by a speed camera
$80
0 demerit points
The points schedule would give 20 for this band — but reg 6(3)(b) does not allow points to be recorded for an offence detected by approved vehicle surveillance equipment at all. So the fee is the whole consequence.
Stopped by an enforcement officer
$80
20 demerit points
Identical speed, identical fee. Because the offence was not detected by that equipment, the schedule’s points are recorded against the licence in the ordinary way.
Land Transport (Offences and Penalties) Regulations 1999, reg 6(3)(b) — figures shown at 11 km/h over the limit
The Regulations put it in a parenthesis, which is why it is so easy to miss. Demerit points may only be recorded for an offence that concerns the driving of a motor vehicle — (other than an offence detected by approved vehicle surveillance equipment). A speed camera is that equipment. So the camera notice that arrives in the post carries the fee, and nothing is recorded against your licence for it.
An enforcement officer stopping you for the same speed is a different case entirely: the offence was not detected by that equipment, so the schedule’s points are recorded in the ordinary way. Same speed, same fee, and the whole difference is in how it was detected.
Source — Land Transport (Offences and Penalties) Regulations 1999 (SR 1999/99), reg 6 — as at 19 May 2026 (ltop-1999 consolidation stamp)
The speeding fine
What a speeding ticket costs, band by band
The fee is set by how far over the limit the speed was recorded, and by nothing else — not your income, not your history, not whether it is your first time. Nine bands, and then it stops.
← swipe to see the whole table →
| How far over the limit | Infringement fee | Demerit points | Roadside suspension | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| not more than 10 km an hour1–10 km/h over | $30 | 10 | not on this band | lowest band |
| more than 10 km an hour but not more than 15 km an hour11–15 km/h over | $80 | 20 | not on this band | moderate |
| more than 15 km an hour but not more than 20 km an hour16–20 km/h over | $120 | 20 | not on this band | moderate |
| more than 20 km an hour but not more than 25 km an hour21–25 km/h over | $170 | 35 | not on this band | serious |
| more than 25 km an hour but not more than 30 km an hour26–30 km/h over | $230 | 35 | not on this band | serious |
| more than 30 km an hour but not more than 35 km an hour31–35 km/h over | $300 | 40 | not on this band | most serious |
| more than 35 km an hour but not more than 40 km an hour36–40 km/h over | $400 | 50 | not on this band | most serious |
| more than 40 km an hour but not more than 45 km an hour41–45 km/h over | $510 | 50 | permanent limit only | most serious |
| more than 45 km an hour but not more than 50 km an hour46–50 km/h over | $630 | 50 | permanent limit only | most serious |
| More than 50 km/h over the limitno row in this schedule | no infringement fee exists | the points ladder keeps running — see below | any speed limit | off the ladder |
Schedule 1B Part 2 prices exactly 9 rungs, ending at “more than 45 but not more than 50 km an hour” ($630). Beyond 50 km/h over, there is no infringement fee in this scale — the matter leaves the infringement system entirely. Never extrapolate a 10th rung.
The roadside-suspension column reads an enforcement-officer detection. Section 95(1)(c) names approved vehicle surveillance equipment and a point-to-point average speed system together, so no camera detection reaches a suspension at any speed. Its two thresholds are more than 40 km/h over a permanent speed limit and more than 50 km/h over any other limit.
Above the ceiling the ordinary conviction route applies instead, where the schedule states a flat maximum fine of $1,000 for an individual — a different provision, and one that is not scaled by how far over the limit the speed was.
Source — Land Transport (Offences and Penalties) Regulations 1999 (SR 1999/99), Schedule 1B Part 2 — from 27 February 2005 (Sch 1B inserted, SR 2004/448 reg 9; no later Part 2 amendment footnote found)
Demerit points
The points ladder is a different ladder
It comes from a different schedule, it has fewer rungs, its boundaries are in different places — and unlike the fee ladder, its top rung has no upper bound at all.
Schedule 2 Part 2's 5 rungs (10/20/30/35 km/h-over boundaries) do not share boundaries with Schedule 1B Part 2's 9 rungs (10/15/20/25/30/35/40/45/50) — different schedules, different keys. This payload does not join a fee row to a points row.
The consequence of that is worth stating plainly, because a calculator that assumed the two were symmetric would get it wrong at exactly the worst end: the points schedule’s top row reads “Speeding offence in which the speed limit fixed is exceeded by more than 35 km/h”, so it keeps applying past 50 km/h over, where the fee ladder has already run out. One ladder being closed tells you nothing about the other.
← swipe to see the whole table →
| Item | How far over the limit | Demerit points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Speeding offence in which the speed limit fixed is exceeded by not more than 10 km/h1–10 km/h over | 10 |
| 2 | Speeding offence in which the speed limit fixed is exceeded by more than 10 km/h but not more than 20 km/h11–20 km/h over | 20 |
| 3 | Speeding offence in which the speed limit fixed is exceeded by more than 20 km/h but not more than 30 km/h21–30 km/h over | 35 |
| 4 | Speeding offence in which the speed limit fixed is exceeded by more than 30 km/h but not more than 35 km/h31–35 km/h over | 40 |
| 5 | Speeding offence in which the speed limit fixed is exceeded by more than 35 km/hmore than 35 km/h over — no upper bound stated | 50 |
Source — Land Transport (Offences and Penalties) Regulations 1999 (SR 1999/99), Schedule 2 Part 2 — from 27 February 2005 (reg 6(1) operative-start date; no later Part 2 amendment footnote found)
These points are only recorded if the offence was not camera-detected
The third consequence
An officer can suspend a licence at the roadside
It is not the top of the fee ladder and it is not the top of the points ladder. It is its own provision, with its own thresholds, imposed on the spot.
More than 40 km/h over a permanent speed limit, or more than 50 km/h over any other limit, and an enforcement officer may suspend the driver licence immediately for 28 days. A fee and demerit points can both apply to the same stop; all three tracks are independent of each other.
It does not arise from a camera detection, and here — unlike the demerit rule at the top of this page — there is nothing ambiguous about it. The provision excludes both detection methods by name, together, in the same subclause: (which speed was detected by a means other than approved vehicle surveillance equipment or a point-to-point average speed system).
A suspension may be extended on application — up to 3 extensions, each of not more than 28 days. The Act states those two limits separately and states no combined total, so this site gives none and does not multiply them.
It does not apply at all to
Emergency vehicles on urgent service
Source — Land Transport Act 1998 (1998 No 110), ss 95, 95A — as at 19 May 2026 (lta-1998 consolidation stamp; s 95(1)(c) itself last amended 1 March 2024)
Work it out
Your speeding fine, your points and your suspension
Three answers, because they are three separate consequences. Set how far over the limit the speed was recorded and say how it was detected.
Your ticket
Enter the recorded speed minus the posted limit. Both are printed on the notice — this site never asks for the notice itself.
This is the control that changes the answer. It decides whether demerit points are recorded at all.
A permanent posted limit, or a temporary one — a roadworks or variable limit. It selects the roadside-suspension threshold, and nothing else.
The roadside-suspension threshold this selects
more than 40 km/h over
Land Transport Act 1998, s 95(1)(c)(i)
What it costs
moderateInfringement fee
$80
Demerit points recorded
0
the schedule’s figure is 20, not recorded here
Roadside suspension
None
What this means
- Schedule 1B, Part 2 prices this band at $80.
- NO DEMERIT POINTS ARE RECORDED FOR THIS OFFENCE. Under reg 6(3)(b), demerit points may only be recorded for an offence that concerns the driving of a motor vehicle “(other than an offence detected by approved vehicle surveillance equipment)”. A speed camera IS that equipment — so a camera-detected speeding offence carries the infringement fee and no points at all.
- No roadside suspension arises from a camera detection. Section 95(1)(c) applies only where the speed was detected “by a means other than approved vehicle surveillance equipment or a point-to-point average speed system” — it names BOTH methods together, in the same subclause, so unlike reg 6(3)(b) there is no reading fork here.
What this calculator does and does not do
- Enter how far over the limit the speed was recorded. NO TOLERANCE IS APPLIED HERE, because New Zealand legislates none: neither the Land Transport Act 1998 nor the Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2004 sets any margin, percentage or allowance on a speed reading. What the Act provides instead is an evidentiary presumption — a certificate about the device and the reading is evidence of what it states (s 146). Whether NZ Police act on a particular reading is enforcement practice, not a legal threshold, and this site will not present one as the other.
- The detection method is not a detail. It is the difference between a fee alone and a fee plus points, and it is the one thing about a New Zealand speeding ticket that most summaries get wrong.
- There is no early-payment discount in this site’s sources. The fee for a band of the ladder is that band’s fee, whenever it is paid. Readers arriving from a European system where a reduced early rate exists should note the difference.
- This is not a lookup. It asks for no driver licence number, no notice reference, no date of birth and no plate, holds no records, and submits nothing anywhere — the figures stay in your browser.
Where this site stops
One reading we will not settle, and one figure that does not exist
Both of these are answers. Neither is a gap somebody forgot to fill, and neither is softened to sound more complete than it is.
Two readings survive here, and the text does not settle which is right
Reading A
Points ARE recorded for a point-to-point detection
The Regulations’ own recording rule names only one detection method — ordinary approved vehicle surveillance equipment. On its plain wording it does not reach a point-to-point average speed system at all, so nothing in it suppresses the points for one.
Reading B
No points are recorded for a point-to-point detection
The Act’s own provision — the one that empowers points to be recorded in the first place — excludes BOTH methods by name: (other than an offence detected by approved vehicle surveillance equipment or a point-to-point average speed system). On this reading the Regulations’ narrower wording never gets the chance to matter, because the offence never reaches the recording step.
What this site computes
This site’s calculator computes Reading B — no points recorded — and it does so because that is the reading under which the Regulations do not exceed the scope of the Act they are made under. That is a reason, not a resolution. The text does not settle it, and if the point-to-point question is the one that matters to you, it is worth asking the authority named on your notice rather than relying on either reading.
Land Transport Act 1998, s 88(1) — Land Transport (Offences and Penalties) Regulations 1999, reg 6(3)(b)
This panel is about point-to-point average-speed cameras only. The ordinary camera-versus-points answer at the top of this page is not in doubt: reg 6(3)(b) names that equipment expressly, and the two questions should not be blurred together.
New Zealand does not legislate a speed-measurement tolerance
Neither the Act nor the Road User Rule sets a tolerance, a margin or an allowance on a speed reading. What the Act provides instead is an evidentiary presumption: a certificate about the device and the reading is evidence of what it states, and the only numeric constraint attached to it is how recently the device was tested — a different fact from a margin on the reading.
Whether NZ Police act on a particular reading is enforcement practice. This site prints no percentage and no km/h figure for a tolerance anywhere, because printing one would present practice as law.
Land Transport Act 1998, s 146 — Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2004, clause 5.1
What to do
If a notice has arrived
- Read how it was detected off the noticeIt decides whether demerit points are involved at all. Everything else on this page follows from it.
- Check the recorded speed against the ladder aboveThe fee is the band’s fee. If the two do not match, the notice is the document to query — not this site.
- Read your own deadline off the noticeThe time you have to pay is stated on the notice itself. This site does not state a day-count, because the Act does not set one.