AA calls for change to 'covert' speed camera system, says fining people for going 105km/h on motorway senseless

June 13, 2019

AA’s Mike Noon is urging the Government to move to a deterrence model where speed cameras are sign posted.

Police need to move away from the "covert" speed camera model they currently use and signpost cameras, says the AA’s motoring affairs general manager Mike Noon.

Mr Noon appeared on TVNZ1's Breakfast to advocate for the Swedish speed camera policing model, which is based on deterrence rather than the Australian model based on punishment, which is currently used in New Zealand.

"The Swedish model is that they have more cameras, they tell you where they are, so they’re sign posted," he said.

"It's a deterrence model, they tell you where they are, you do slow down, they get great compliance, they don’t run the cameras very much so they issue few tickets."

Mr Noon said the number of fines as a result of speeding was a sign of failure.

"We have a camera in New Zealand that issues a ticket to one in every 51 cars that goes past it, a camera in New Zealand that issued $4.8 million worth of tickets.”

"If you’re getting a lot of tickets you’re actually measuring that you’ve got unsafe speeds, it’s a failure, using a lot of tickets is a failure."

"Let’s put some signs up where the cameras are, give people the time to slow down."

Noon said motorists who didn’t slow down when cameras were sign posted deserved no sympathy.

"If they don’t slow down then cause that’s the dangerous bits, I’ve got no sympathy at all and they deserve the ticket."

Many of the fines currently issued made no sense, according to Mr Noon.

"I don’t think some of our fines make sense, so if we’ve got a holiday weekend, you’re going down the motorway out of Auckland, you’re doing 105."

"They send you a ticket, the system can’t cope cause they’re sending so many tickets, it arrives six weeks later when you’re well back from your holiday and it’s $30, it most likely took more than $30 to process and what deterrence was that, I don’t think that works."

Mr Noon said cynics who thought speeding tickets were a method of revenue raising were misguided, with the fines actually becoming a burden to the Crown.

"It actually costs them and their operating budget because they have got to process the tickets, issue the tickets so in a way, when they issue a ticket it actually costs them money.

"The Crown doesn’t get the money because there are so many tickets that get issued that they all end up in the courts."

"The best system is people know where the unsafe places are, they know where the cameras, they comply, they get only a few tickets, they don’t lose the money out of their pocket, police don’t have to waste money processing it so it’s a better model."

"What you want is a model that is trying to encourage people to comply and is overt and is open rather than one that is covert trying to catch people and punishment."

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