More cameras on way, to save lives

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

The decision of the NZ Transport Agency, Waka Kotahi, to back away from what it calls saturation of New Zealand roads with new speed cameras because of a feared public backlash could cost hundreds of lives.

In a business case released to RNZ, the agency was looking at six options for more speed cameras, alongside more severe penalties and faster processing times. The most extreme option, which was to treat all corridors across the country with speed cameras, was estimated to save 2200 to 3400 lives over 20 years. This maximum saturation option would also have seen all the existing speed cameras transferred from police to the agency.

Instead, Waka Kotahi has adopted an option that it believes will save between 1500 and 2400 lives.

A report to the agency said the maximum option was too hard and costly to build, and risked alienating people. It would have an eroding effect on social licence with the public, by saturating the network with cameras in less than 10 years. Instead, the agency is going for a more gradual approach that will add a lot of new cameras a year — though the actual numbers were blanked out from the report.

Despite the pullback, the agency still expects the number of drivers caught to increase from 1 million to 3 million offences a year.

Earlier this year Waka Kotahi bought 26 cameras for speed and red light running detection only. The other cameras being tested now will spot people using their phones or not wearing their seatbelts. Tests of these new cameras in Auckland have snapped 50,000 offences of drivers using their phones or not having their seatbelts on.

From January 1 to last night there were 226 deaths from crashes in New Zealand; 22 more than at the same time last year.

The agency finds itself in a battle with a “she'll be right” attitude by drivers in this country, particularly in some sectors such as young males aged 18 to 25. Despite horrific crashes like the one south of Picton in June, there is still an attitude that “this won't affect me”.

Many drivers find themselves creeping over a limit by 10kmh or a little more at times and fines at that level, while not welcome, are generally accepted.

But the attitude persists that speed cameras are just a revenue-collecting device for police and despite many cars having Bluetooth, some people continue to drive while using their phones. Drivers who don't like being fined have a simple solution: slow down.