Southern police issued 521 infringement notices to drivers over Queen's Birthday weekend, during which 11 people died in crashes across the country.
The single Southern district death was the first in the official Queen's Birthday period, from 4pm Friday to 6am yesterday.
A Kaikoura man died in a five-car crash north of Dunedin on Friday.
Southern district road policing manager Inspector Tania Baron described driving by southerners over the long weekend as "really disappointing'', as most infringements notices were for exceeding 100kmh and that did not include speed camera fines.
"We're not talking inadvertently creeping over. It's intentionally going over the speed limit,'' Insp Baron said.
"People know that it's going to be a long weekend; they know the conditions and that you shouldn't speed, yet they choose to do so.
"People need to take responsibility for their own actions.''
Some of the worst offenders were drivers with children in their cars and at least one motorist was caught travelling at 30kmh over the speed limit.
Insp Baron pleaded for motorists to slow down and take care, especially as winter driving conditions intensified.
"Take notice of what's around you. Leave a bit earlier so you can travel more slowly. Make sure you've got your seatbelt on. It's so easy.''
The Queen's Birthday road toll was the highest in 27 years.
National road policing manager Superintendent Steve Greally said police had a "highly visible'' presence on the roads over the long weekend but they "cannot be everywhere''.
"As far as police are concerned, any death or injury is one too many, and everyone needs to be doing their part to reduce deaths and injuries on our roads,'' he said
"Police will continue to do everything we can to ensure the message gets to those who need to hear it - if only to prevent another crash from occurring - but this responsibility also lies in the hands of every road user.''
New Zealand's worst Queen's Birthday weekend road toll was 24 deaths in 1973.
