The number of police on New Zealand's roads has decreased from 1148 to 975 over the past 10 years.

Dedicated road police and highway patrol numbers have dropped despite a rising road toll.

Since 2008 the total number of units on the roads has decreased from 1112 to 975, figures released to Stuff under the Official Information Act show.

New Zealand has just experienced its worst year for road fatalities since 2009, with the death toll for the last 12 months sitting at 379.

MARION VAN DIJK/STUFF National road policing manager Superintendent Steve Greally says police take road safety seriously.

An analysis by think tank the NZ Initiative, which examined crashes per kilometre driven, found the chance of a person in a car dying on the road was 41 per cent higher now than what it was in 2013 and 12 per cent higher than 2016.

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In Auckland road police numbers have fallen by 57 since 2008, with Auckland City's force declining the most from 65 to 33 officers. Wellington followed a similar trend, dropping from 88 officers in 2008 to 60 last year.

GEORGE HEARD/STUFF New Zealand experienced its worst year for road fatalities since 2009 last year with 378 deaths.

Treasury figures show $323 million, or 19 per cent of the police budget, was allocated for road safety programmes.

Only $58m was spent on police road safety spending in 2012. This increased to $91m in 2017.

In April 2017, police were granted an extra $10m to create more dedicated road policing positions after 111 road police officers were moved to other areas of the force.

CHIRS SKLETON/STUFF Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter says the 2017 road toll was the equivalent of an "entire New Zealand primary school being wiped off the map".

NZ Institute research fellow Sam Warburton said he disputed the police road safety funding figures.

Figures he received from government showed funding for road policing had remained "relatively flat" over the past nine years.

Objectives for transport were set by the Government every three years. This provided funding signals to the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and councils, Warburton said.

NZTA decreased funding by 2.4 per cent in 2012, but was then increased by 4.7 per cent in 2015, he said.

"The level of funding had probably reduced the effectiveness of road policing."

Figures obtained by the NZ Institute also showed total spending on road policing remained relatively static, especially after inflation had been taken into account, he said.

National road policing national manager Superintendent Steve Greally said police took road safety seriously and were dedicated to reducing trauma on the roads.

This was done through a mixture of prevention and enforcement activities, with police utilising a "whole of police" approach to road safety, Greally said.

"As a part of this approach all constabulary police have the power to, and it is expected they will, undertake road policing activities should they witness unsafe behaviour," he said

Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter said the Government was considering funding levels for road policing as part of a new government policy statement on land transport.

"We are already moving as fast as we can, with an extra $22.5m boost for low-cost road safety treatments on 30 high-risk rural roads," Genter said.

Throughout 2018 the Government would be reviewing road safety strategies, boosting funding for targeted road safety improvements, and rolling out targeted speed reductions programs, she said.

"Transport safety is a major priority for the Government – 379 people were killed on our roads in 2017, the equivalent of an entire New Zealand primary school being wiped off the map in a year.

"As a society we shouldn't tolerate this."