Speed cameras haul in $6.6m

In the 2011/12 financial year, the top 10 camera locations issued tickets worth just over $6 million. In 2012/13 it was $4.2 million. Photo / Michael Craig.

Eight of the 10 costliest speed cameras are in Auckland.

Motorists forked out more than $6.63 million in the past financial year after being snapped at the country's most lucrative speed camera sites.

Figures released to the Herald on Sunday reveal eight of the 10 cameras are in the Auckland region; including a mobile camera set-up on the Northwestern Motorway near Te Atatu, which netted $1.48m.

The country's most lucrative speed camera is in Cambridge - between Vogel and Victoria Streets - and in the year ended June 30, 18,443 motorists were captured over the limit, with infringements totalling $1.72m.

About 50 tickets a day were issued from the fixed camera site in Cambridge, and about 42 per day from the Te Atatu site.

Following the release of the figures under the Official Information Act, the Automobile Association's motoring affairs general manager Mike Noon called for signs informing motorists they were entering speed camera zones.

"These are areas where we know there is a high risk or a history of crashes," he said. "We want people to have the opportunity to check their speed and slow down."

The main argument over this stance was people would just slow down in that area before speeding again. But Noon said at least these high-risk areas would be safer.

But National Road Policing Manager Superintendent Carey Griffiths said the onus was on motorists not to speed.

"Police's focus is not on the monetary value of the infringement notices issued, but rather on drivers breaking the law and thereby posing a risk to other road users."

Assistant Commissioner Road Policing Dave Cliff added sign-posting camera areas didn't work.

"The research is telling us that if you put up signs for cameras then people do slow down but the exit speed at the other end is higher than the speed they went in," he said.

Cliff said speed camera sites were selected for several reasons, including the number of speed-related fatal and injury crashes in the area and also speed-related complaints from the general public.

Generally, fixed cameras were placed at crash black spots and mobile cameras were used at a wider variety of locations. Police and the New Zealand Transport Agency were unable to provide figures showing a drop in crashes in the top 10 most lucrative speed camera sites.

In the 2011/12 financial year, the top 10 camera locations issued tickets worth just over $6 million. In 2012/13 it was $4.2 million.