Police Minister Judith Collins doesn't agree with police ticketing drivers travelling only a few kilometres over the speed limit.

Strict speed limits won't lower the road toll because drivers glued to the speedometer will be distracted from watching the road in front of them, says Police Minister Judith Collins.

Queen's Birthday weekend finished with the highest road toll in 27 years after eight crashes led to eleven people dying on New Zealand roads.

Collins and her Labour counter-part Stuart Nash have been at logger heads over whether underfunding and the removal of police from traffic patrols are responsible for the spike in deaths.

On Tuesday Collins said men driving while talking on their mobile phone were a contributor to crashes, along with people driving in unsafe conditions, and disputed Nash's claims that fewer cops on the road were at fault.

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On Wednesday she told MPs in the House she didn't agree with police ticketing drivers for going one, or even three, kilometres over the speed limit.

"When we have that sort of very strict adherence we can end up with drivers watching the speedometer to the exclusion of the road and considering the road conditions," she said.

Nash said it was "nonsense" to suggest people driving during a holiday weekend when police enforce no tolerance around speeding were "ignoring the road" and watching the speedometer.

"I think this is the minister being a little bit glib and churlish about an important issue."

Men driving while talking on mobile phones aren't contributing to deaths on roads - Nash said they only made up 0.05 per cent of serious crashes.

"What we do know is more police on roads will lead to less accidents - there's a direct correlation around that," he said.

Collins defended her comments targeting men saying the "facts speak for themselves".

"For the five years from 2010-2015 cellphone offences - 70 per cent male, cellphone related fatal crashes - 73 per cent male, driver deaths - 86 per cent male, per cent at fault - 85 per cent male, alcohol offences - 76 per cent male, illegal street racing - 97 per cent male."

Collins threw a personal attack at Nash when he asked whether there had been cuts in police data and research staff as a result of the minister making her own observations.

This was on the back of her comment on Tuesday that she got "out and about" and consistently saw men driving while on their mobile phones.

"It's just noting that I am somebody who gets out and about and I don't sit around an office looking at the mirror like that member does," Collins said.

The Labour MP was quick to laugh it off and told media outside of the House that his experience was "when people resort to personal attacks they've lost the argument".