Commuter snaps over lane cam

A driver who was fined for straying into a bus lane says it's not fine, and accuses Auckland City Council of trapping unsuspecting commuters, says Jacqueline Smith
Khyber Pass Rd is a mess of indicators, horns and gridlock in afternoon rushhour. The setting sun blinds drivers heading towards Symonds St. So, when David Collins was lumped with a $150 spot fine for driving in the bus lane on his way home last week, he was raging. Especially when he watched another three motorists snapped at the same spot over the next five minutes. "Auckland City Council must be pocketing $15,000 per day from that one spot," he says. That'd be about right. The council told The Aucklander that, of the average 4470 vehicles travelling Khyber Pass Rd each day, 86 are snapped for bus lane infringements. That's almost $13,000 a day. An officer is stationed there with a camera during peak periods which is when Mr Collins was caught. He says it was an honest mistake, certainly not worth $150. He's been driving for 40 years and has never been caught in a bus lane before. He also says the green section of road is very short compared to the bus lanes he is used to, like the clearly marked lane from the Museum of Transport and Technology to Pt Chevalier, and hard to make out when driving into the sun and negotiating traffic. "I've only driven that road a couple of times in the past year and I was following other cars on the bus lane." Mr Collins thinks the lane might be catching out motorists who do not drive the road regularly. "Auckland City Council is taking advantage of the situation," he says. But a spokesperson for Auckland City Council says Khyber Pass has the highest compliance levels of any bus lane it manages. According to their figures, monthly compliance hovers around 98 per cent - which makes one wonder how much the council is making from other bus lanes which do not have such a high "level of compliance". This information was not provided before The Aucklander's deadline. What the council did say is that all on-street signs and road markings are covered by very strict rules. These stipulate size, colour, font, wording inclusion, position of sign, height of sign, distance between signs and signs to markings. The length of lane depends on the street and distances between intersections. "Our objective is to achieve a high level of compliance to ensure bus lanes operate as effectively as possible. As such, we monitor compliance on a regular basis and officers randomly enforce bus lanes across the isthmus." Between July 2006 and June 2007, city motorists racked up more than $2 million in infringements. The council is legally required to reinvest what it gathers through fines in the day-today upkeep of roads, such as filling potholes, replacing damaged signs and graffiti removal. Cars seen using a bus lane for more than 50m will have their details recorded and an infringement notice posted out. Drivers are permitted to use bus lanes for a few metres if turning into a side street.