Go slow: fast traffic for the great summer break

Tourists fleeing cities in search of sun-drenched beaches find themselves caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic jams.

A tourist was so eager to stretch his legs while waiting in traffic heading north on State Highway 1 north of Wellington, he jumped out of the car and went for a run before being picked up on the road.

And today a video emerged of a huge corridor heading north from Auckland at one of the country’s most notorious Christmas congestion points.

Tania Osbourne from Warkworth was on her way to Orewa around 10:20 a.m. M. When he decided to film the huge queue of motorists eager to head north.

His video lasted almost two minutes, showing lanes of traffic from bumper to bumper.

Osbourne said she was surprised, but had heard before leaving that the traffic would be especially bad today.

Meanwhile, a Wellington resident on his way to Palmerston North was devastated to learn that his journey from Peka Peka to Manawatū was to take almost two and a half hours.

“It’s really bad today,” he lamented.

Another resident posted that it was one of the worst traffic days in the region.

New Zealand’s Transport Agency, Waka Kotahi, today issued warnings about expected problems on the country’s roads.

The warnings come as four people have so far been killed on the country’s roads during the holiday period in two separate crashes, already equivalent to last year’s holiday season toll.

The fatal crashes occurred on Clevedon-Kawakawa Rd on Christmas Day and on Triangle Rd in Henderson on Boxing Day.