Know the road rules

Know what you can and cannot do on the road.

The official New Zealand road code

Driving safely

Report unsafe or risky driving — the driver will be contacted by Police if they can be identified, but they will not be charged or fined.

Report bad driving

Fines and penalties

For many driving offences, you’ll be given demerit points as well as a fine. If you’re given 100 demerit points in any 2-year period, your licence will be suspended for 3 months.

Demerit points

How to pay fines

You can pay speeding tickets and other Police infringements directly to the Police.

Pay a speeding ticket or traffic infringement

Serious driving offences

If you’re caught committing a serious driving offence, the Police can suspend your licence or impound your vehicle at the roadside.

Roadside licence suspension

When your vehicle’s taken off you

Drink driving

If the court convicts you for driving offences involving alcohol, you can be given an alcohol interlock sentence or a zero alcohol sentence.

An alcohol interlock is an electronic device that prevents you from using your vehicle if a sample of your breath contains alcohol.

Alcohol interlocks

If you have a zero alcohol licence, you need to drive for 3 years with a zero alcohol limit.

Zero alcohol licence

Getting your licence back

If you’ve been banned from driving, you need to apply to get a new licence when the ban is lifted.

Get your licence back

You’ll have to prove you’ve dealt with your drug or alcohol problem before you can apply to have your indefinite disqualification lifted.

Indefinite disqualifications

If a disqualification or suspension will cause extreme hardship to you or undue hardship to another person, you may be able to get a limited licence.

Limited licence