Top cop wants to raise speeding fines, says they're too low
Assistant Commissioner Road Policing Dave Cliff said the current rate of fines were not enough of a deterrent for some drivers.
New Zealand's highest-earning speed cameras are raking in an average of $1m each per year, but police say the fines still aren't high enough to deter speeding drivers.
More than 170,000 drivers were pinged by the new high-tech fixed speed cameras in the 2015-16 financial year, with 10 cameras accounting for more than $11.6 million in fines.
Assistant commissioner Dave Cliff said some drivers were running the risk of speeding because they knew the fines were "very, very low".
This speed camera at Ngauranga Gorge is responsible for issuing $2m of fines in the past year.
"If you're speeding 10kmh or less it's just a $30 fine which is less than a parking fine. That's a worry for us because we really want to deter people from speeding," he said.
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"We worry that they're not having the deterrent value that they could."
While Cliff did not name what type of price he would like to see, he said it was worth considering the example of Victoria, where fines started at $194 for speeding at 10kmh or less, or New South Wales, where the minimum fine was $114.
"They're obviously dramatically higher. But if you were to test it with the general populace, if you're travelling 10kmh over the limit past a school what do you think the fine should be?
"It would be interesting to ask members of the general public".
Police figures show that drivers are most likely to be booked by a speed camera in our two biggest cities.
Of the 10 cameras that issued the most tickets in the past year, five were in Auckland and five were in Wellington.
Top spot went to a camera in the south Auckland suburb of Otahuhu, which issued 39,000 tickets and collected $2.731m in 2015-16.
Second was in Ngauranga, near Wellington, which reaped $2.028m from 26,000 fines.
New Zealand fines range from $30 for edging the limit by 5-9kmh to $1000 for speeding by 50kmh or more.
The practice of ticketing those speeding between 5-9kmh was introduced in 2014 and applied to school zones and during some holiday periods.
Since that time that lower speed $30 fines made up 44 per cent of all fines issued - 116,792 out of a total of 263,013 since 2014-15.
Cliff said the reason for the tougher threshold was that every incremental increase in speed represented a broader danger on the road.
"Rather than thinking about it as an individual, it's a million individuals collectively producing increased risk. If you slow down the entire population by 1kmh that generates a 3 to 5 per cent injury reduction."
For those complaining they were hard done by, Cliff said they needed to look at the road toll, which included 18 deaths over the recent Christmas/New Year holiday period - the highest since the 2011-12 holiday period when 19 people died.
"I absolutely accept there is a vocal minority that can't get their heads around their speed and road trauma, but if you look at the numbers it's a small group. You can't let a vociferous minority drive a road safety programme."
The Automobile Association's Dylan Thomsen said the majority of members supported the use of fixed speed cameras as part of road safety measures.
But he said calls to make fines more expensive would spark debate.
"It's a bit of a polarising issue. The key question that people want to know is 'is this improving road safety?'" he said.
"They want to know what's being done is there to make the roads safer and reduce the number of crashes."
Thomsen said the value of the fine was just one piece of the puzzle and there were plenty of other measures to reduce speeding that should be considered as more of a priority.
"If the camera just keeps issuing a high rate of tickets year after year that is not a success. We need to be looking at a wide range of options.
"We'd like to see the fixed speed cameras have signage like they do in Australia and most other countries around the world, alerting people when they're entering those areas."
Electronic billboards showing cars' speed was another proactive step that should be brought in more widely, he said.
Clive Matthew-Wilson, a road safety campaigner and editor of The Dog and Lemon Guide, said vehicle-activated signs displaying speeds would be "far more effective and far cheaper than speed cameras".
He said the police had an "obsession" with small breaches of the speeding laws, which had not lowered the road toll but had alienated many otherwise law-abiding motorists.
"It's created the impression that the cameras are solely there for revenue gathering."
Associate transport minister David Bennett said the penalties for speeding fines were last reviewed in 2004.
But he said they could be reviewed this year.
"The Ministry of Transport is considering a wider review of offences and penalties for land transport this year to examine how they are working to achieve the road safety outcomes we want, and look at whether any changes are necessary".
He said that fines were only one part of the penalty for drivers.
- Stuff
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