Speeding crackdown to top $2.1m

Northland drivers are on track to pay more than $2.1 million in speed camera fines this year. 
Three unmarked police vans at different locations around the region have been snapping 67 speedsters a day so far this year - generating more than $7000 every day for government coffers.
At an average of $108 a ticket, that equates to about $872,532 extracted from speeding motorists so far this year and has Northland tracking to generate at least 11,000 more tickets than last year and $2.1 million in speed camera fines by the end of the year.
The statistics show half of the top 10 speed camera hotspots in Northland had reached or exceeded last year's total in the first four months of this year. 
Police and road safety officials make no apologies for the hard line and say reducing speed could contribute to a drop in the number of people killed on the roads.
Northland road policing manager Inspector Clifford Paxton said: "We are after safer roads and a safer Northland. If we can
reduce deaths, then that to me is a fantastic outcome."
Figures released to The Northern Advocate under the Official Information Act show in the first four months of the year 8079 speeding motorists have been snapped by speed cameras at 157 sites in Northland.
Last year, a total of 13,168 speed camera tickets were issued. The busiest spot in Northland has continued to be on State Highway 1, near Spains and Awanui River Rds, where 773 heavy-footed drivers fell victim to the speed camera.
Second spot was on State Highway 12 at Ruawai, followed by a site near Kamo between Hailes Rd and Adams Pl.
A stretch of highway at Cooper's Beach in the Far North also proved lucrative, as did Tarewa Rd, in central Whangarei and Church St in Onerahi.
 Inspector Paxton said speed camera vans were being positioned at sites where there were community and police concerns about the speed vehicles were travelling.
Mr Paxton said the third speed camera van had been used in the Far North which could explain the number of tickets being issued there.
"The extra resource has been deployed to those sites because that's where we are continuing to get complaints from members of the public," he said.
"They're areas where we see a problem and are high-risk crash sites."
He said some camera sites were near schools and teachers were worried about speeding drivers.

Road Safety campaigner Gillian Archer said speed was a major factor in the region's fatal crashes along with alcohol and loss of control on bends and it was disappointing so many people were continuing to put their foot down.
"At the end of the day, it's not about revenue gathering it's about making it safer on the roads for everyone. Speed cameras are a necessary tool in making the roads safer.
"The risk of something happening out on the roads is so much greater when people are travelling at speed."
National road policing manager Paula Rose said the "slow-down" message was getting through nationally to drivers.
"We put our speed cameras in places where people do speed, where speed has contributed to crashes and where we're trying to actively change behaviour."