A speed camera chopped down on a North Auckland highway has been reinstated, but a second in the wider region has been vandalised within a week.
A Matakana Rd camera smeared with black paint was discovered this week.
New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) spokesperson acknowledged vandalism to the camera, but said the act did not stop the camera from working.
“Our camera supplier has been dispatched to remove the graffiti. Intentional vandalism of NZTA property is a criminal offence, and the action has been reported to NZ Police.”
The spokesperson said the “extremely disappointing” vandalism was costly for taxpayers and puts road users at risk.
“By installing average speed safety cameras, we are reducing that risk [of harm] and making these roads safer for everyone who uses them.”
Located at two points on the road, the cameras record when each one is passed and calculate a vehicle’s time travelling between them.
A fine is issued if a vehicle travels too quickly.
Geoff Upson, Rodney Local Board member and self-proclaimed road safety campaigner, posted a photo of the most recent vandalism.
The “anti-revenue camera vigilante has struck again,” he said.
Two NZTA “average speed safety cameras” on Matakana Rd were activated on December 1 last year.
Upson said in the post that the cameras do not deter dangerous driving and have only been placed on roads where “the speed limit has been reduced inappropriately”.
He claimed speed was only a factor in a very small minority of crash injuries when drugs and alcohol were removed.
According to Auckland Transport, rural roads where the speed limit was reduced had a 71% reduction in deaths and 25% serious injuries in the first 18 months since the change.
Asked by the Herald if the wording of his anti-speed limit and speed camera posts may encourage people to speed, he said it was intended to connect with the people who agree with him that speed limits should be higher.
“I speed myself. I’ve certainly had a lot of speeding tickets to back that claim up.
“Am I saying do it? I’m saying well, we all want to do it, we all need to do it, because driving 80 or 60 is ridiculous.”
He said roads which had their limits lowered in 2020 should be reverted to their original speeds.
Last week, a camera on North Auckland’s Coatesville Riverhead Highway was chopped down by an “upset local”.
The camera on the highway is designed to catch those exceeding the 60km/h speed limit, which came into force at the end of June 2020 and was previously lowered from 100km/h to 80km/h before the current restriction was enforced.
A NZTA spokesperson told the Herald crews had been working “overnight and again today” to reinstate the camera.
Police confirmed they responded to a report of the camera being chopped down, with a man reportedly driving a blue 4WD with a canopy being a suspect.
Comments on social media about the speed camera implied it could be targeted again, as one person said “Uncle chop chop will be back on site to take it down”, while Upson had the same feeling.
“I think the majority of the community is in agreement that the speed limit is too slow and therefore that the speed camera or the revenue collector is inappropriate”, said Upson.
Upson said the two-camera attacks and the legal risks people took to take them showed the speed cameras weren’t welcome, and slower speeds were not supported by the community.