In 2020, New Zealand's remand facilities held 6,846 people awaiting trial for traffic and vehicle regulatory offences. A significant number, but one that had been relatively stable for years.

Then came 2021. The number dropped sharply to 4,512. COVID-19 had emptied roads, cancelled court dates, and slowed the entire justice system to a crawl. By 2022, as the country reopened, the figure barely budged: 4,566. In 2023, it crept up to 4,734.

Then 2024 happened. 8,367 people on remand for traffic offences. Nearly double the 2021 figure. The highest level since 2009.

This isn't about more cars on the road. Vehicle numbers have grown steadily, but not at double-digit rates. This is about something breaking in the pipeline between being charged and getting your day in court (Source: Stats NZ, remand-prisoners).

Remand means you're waiting. You haven't been convicted. You're in a cell because a judge decided you're either a flight risk, a danger to the public, or likely to reoffend before trial. For traffic offences, that usually means repeat drink-drivers, people driving while disqualified, or those racking up charges while already on bail.

But remand numbers don't just reflect how many people are breaking road rules. They reflect how fast the courts can process them. And right now, the courts aren't keeping up.

The 2021 dip wasn't a win. It was a system grinding to a halt. Courts closed. Trials got postponed. Police were stretched thin. When things reopened, the backlog didn't clear. It compounded. More people got charged. Fewer got their cases heard. The queue grew.

By 2024, that queue had become a crisis. The number of people on remand for traffic offences more than doubled in three years. That's not a blip. That's a system under pressure.

Here's what makes this particularly grim: traffic offences are among the most straightforward cases in the justice system. No complex investigations. No drawn-out evidence gathering. If the courts can't move these cases efficiently, what hope is there for more serious charges?

And every person on remand is a cost. To taxpayers funding their detention. To families losing income while someone sits in a cell awaiting trial. To a justice system already creaking under the weight of delays.

You have to go back to 2009 to find a comparable figure. Back then, New Zealand was recovering from the Global Financial Crisis, with stretched budgets and rising crime. Fifteen years later, we're back in the same place. Different crisis. Same outcome.