[ad_1]
Police said speed camera tickets have fallen by a third since 2019, showing they are acting as a deterrent.
photograph: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
Police said the large number of speeding tickets officers are issuing to drivers shows they are serious about enforcement.
Road safety statistics show police officers issued around 290,000 tickets in the first nine months of this year, up from 230,000 tickets issued in the same period last year.
Police acknowledged that they had not done enough enforcement in recent years and vowed to do more.
Police told RNZ on Tuesday: “Police are committed to increasing the level of speed enforcement and this work is being carried out steadily, as evidenced by the number of speeding offenses issued by our officers.” he said.
However, even though these ticket numbers were much higher than in 2020 and 2021, the number of hours targeted for deploying mobile speed cameras (61,000 hours against a target of over 80,000 hours) was again exceeded. could not be achieved.
Police said they had “difficulties recruiting sufficient traffic photographers to significantly increase the use of mobile speed cameras.”
This was because he could not guarantee a long-term job when the camera was handed over to Waka Kotahi from next year.
Speed camera tickets fell by a third from 2019 to 250,000 in nine months.
This shows fixed cameras are acting as a deterrent, police said.
“The increase in violations detected by police officers and mobile cameras shows that drivers continue to speed in areas where there are no fixed cameras.”
Police have changed speed camera settings in the past to catch speeders at slower speeds.
Police said in a statement that the settings may change depending on its ability to process infringement notifications.
However, “No other configuration changes have been made, and there are no plans to change the settings in any other way.”
“What we need is for drivers to focus less on camera settings and more on driving at a speed that is safe for the conditions and within the posted speed limit. , there is nothing to be afraid of with a safe speed camera, regardless of the setting.”
The significant increase in fines for drivers using mobile phones – tripling since 2019 – “demonstrates our commitment to targeting these behaviors that lead to death and injury”.
The fee increased from $80 to $150 in 2021. Since then, his total fees for the nine months have increased from $3.4 million to $6.2 million, and the number of drivers pinged has increased from 30,000 to 42,000.
Waka Kotahi plans to introduce new smart cameras that can locate drivers by phone. This has been tested but not yet deployed.
Police rejected any suggestion that speed limit enforcement was aimed at increasing revenue.
“All funds generated from fines will go to the Consolidated Fund.
“In fact, we are pleased to no longer issue violation notices again, as it means drivers are choosing to drive within the posted speed limit.”
They said they had received no direction from the new government on road security priorities.
[ad_2]
Source link
