I went on a road trip this weekend. I drove to the King Country for an aunt's birthday. Before I'd even left Auckland just after 9am, I was pulled over by police and hit with a $270 fine.

$120 was for being around 12 kilometres over the speed limit on the motorway. The other $150 was because I had a crack in my windscreen and therefore had not kept my car up to a warrantable standard.

The car is booked in to have the windscreen replaced this week - it was the earliest I could get in. The policeman said if I attached a receipt which showed I’d had the screen replaced within two weeks of being ticketed, then the $150 would be refunded.

It's a good deal. I don’t begrudge the ticket. The policeman was pleasant. And in the end I'll pay $120 for speeding and that’s my fault. The law is the law and I broke it.

I agree with fining me $150 to incentivise me to fix my windscreen. I had quite a major car accident in my twenties when an idiot who already had two careless driving charges hit me head-on. He was speeding in atrocious weather conditions and lost control of a car with balding tyres. He walked away uninjured. My friend and I weren't quite so lucky. So I am all for the police climbing in to anyone who’s driving a car that's fallen below a warrantable standard.

Then yesterday, I was driving back from the King Country (about a five hour journey) and I saw some ridiculous driving. Campervans driving at 30km/h on single-lane windy roads and driving past a number of slow bays where they could have pulled in. I counted six that the campervan driver in front of me ignored. By the time I could eventually pass, there was a long tail of cars behind me and drivers were agitated. Horns were being tooted, cars were swerving back and forth across the middle-line trying to see if there was a place to pass. 

Yes, everyone has to be tolerant but not everyone is. That's just a reality. And it is very easy to see in these situations why people take risks, and risks that can sometimes lead to serious if not fatal accidents.

So I wondered what police will do this Christmas about those slow drivers. There is no doubt those who speed cause the most carnage on our roads, and I've been a victim of that myself.

But what impact do slow and thoughtless drivers, the drivers who are oblivious to what's going on around them, what impact do they have on our road toll? Police have a busy and distressing job this Christmas as they always do, but I hope they keep an eye on those driving at the extremities of both ends of the speedometer.