Statistics from the Office of State Revenue reveal in the 12 months between July 1 and June 30, 2018-19 a total of 5470 speeding tickets were issued in Chifley Police District.

Four months into the new financial year, officers have already issued 2249 speeding tickets, 11 of which were exceeding the speed limit by 45km an hour, and 129 within a dedicated school zone.

Senior Sergeant Peter Foran, Macquarie Cluster Senior Supervisor, said while there may be a small increase in speeding offence figures, what police really look at is the correlation between offence detection and a decrease between serious and fatal injury crashes.

While crash fatalities in the Chifley Police District currently stand at eight, which is line with the three year average for the area, he said serious injury crashes for the same period were down by 20, which Sen Sgt Foran said was a good indicator that targeting speeding drivers was working.

"The increase in tickets indicates our taskings are successful," he said.

He said highway patrol police are specifically tasked to where crash statistics indicate they are needed.

"Speed is a major causal factor of fatal and serious injury crashes, so we are on the right path," he said.

Sen Sgt Foran also said police make no apologies for pulling speeding drivers over.

"At the end of the day if you are doing the wrong thing you will be caught.

"Our tasking sees my officers deployed where they need to be, we not only have all the major roads covered but also secondary routes as well.

"The fact we have the back routes covered may be contributing in the increase of speed detection, but we also know those roads are typically where we see fatalities and serious injury crashes occurring."

When it comes to drivers caught doing speeds of 45km an hour plus over the limit, he said police have little sympathy.

"At the end of the day it's completely unacceptable, people try and say they didn't realise they were doing that type of speed..... they are kidding themselves.

"There is no excuse to be travelling 45km above the posted speed limit. That is ridiculous. If they are prepared to do it, then then they should be prepared to deal with the sanctions which come with it.

He also said highway patrol will continue to target school zones, for both speed enforcement and random breath testing.

"We make no apologies for this."