AA Otago District Council chairman and road safety spokesman Malcolm Budd said 207 tickets were issued in Kaikorai Valley Rd outside Kaikorai Valley College within 30 minutes earlier this week, and a further 185 were issued in Bay View Rd outside King’s High School within 30 minutes on Thursday.
The fastest speed recorded was 59kmh in a 30kmh zone, he said.
"The AA is a supporter of lower speed limits outside schools, especially variable limits at the start and end of the day.
"But we believe much more could often be done in terms of signage or road markings, to try to get people to naturally travel slower.
"We see this as a better, long-term solution than occasional enforcement where people receive a ticket in the mail a few weeks after driving past a camera."
Mr Budd said roads around schools could be high-risk areas at the start and end of the school day when large numbers of children and parents were around, and police had decided to focus on these areas with their enforcement recently.
"At the same time, it’s important that speed limits need to be well-suited to the look and feel of the road and make sense to the vast majority of people, or else you risk lots of people travelling above it.
"Issuing a lot of tickets indicates that there is likely a mis-match of the speed limit and road environment, or that a number of people genuinely aren’t aware of the lower limit."
He said speeding created more risk of serious harm where speeds were higher or in areas with lots of people and vehicles around.
"But the risks will also be affected by things in the surrounding environment, like if it’s wet or dry, if there are lots of intersections and driveways, if it’s a narrow, winding road and if visibility is good or poor.
"People need to drive to the conditions and not just see the limit as the right speed to always travel at."
Following last year’s election, Transport Minister Simeon Brown said he planned to reverse the previous government’s approach to speed restrictions, as part of the coalition government’s 100-day plan.
He wanted to make speed management plans discretionary rather than mandatory.
While Mr Budd was supportive of 30kmh speed limits around schools, he welcomed Mr Brown’s initiative.
"We welcome his decision on this.
"We have always considered speed limit reductions should be evidence-based, and they should be made on a case-by-case basis."
Senior Sergeant Karl Hemmingson, of Dunedin, said he was "disappointed" with the sheer numbers of people breaking the speed limit outside King’s High School and Kaikorai Valley College this week.
"They’re putting children’s lives at risk.
"If someone hits a child and kills them because they’ve been speeding — imagine living with yourself after that."
He said the reason speed limits were 30kmh outside schools was because vehicles had more chance of stopping and not hitting children, than when they were travelling at 50kmh.
