A 23-year-old man's driver's licence was automatically suspended for 28 days after a police laser unit clocked his car travelling at 177kmh on the Dunedin Southern Motorway, near Fairfield, at the weekend, police said.
Senior Constable Martin Van Elst, of the city's police strategic traffic unit, said the motorist, who had been heading towards the city, was charged with driving at a dangerous speed after being stopped at noon on Saturday.
The car was travelling in the outside lane of the twin-lane highway, in moderate traffic conditions, when the "unusually high" speed was detected.
"There's no margin for error if something happens at that speed," Snr Const Van Elst said.
The man had earlier been on a learner licence and had held a restricted licence for only a few weeks.
Speeds near the city had been generally coming down, but the speed reduction message was not getting through to some people, police said.
