Average speed safety cameras 'will lead to fewer tickets'

Road safety campaigners say the roll out of more average speed safety cameras will help reduce serious and fatal crashes. They also expect fewer speeding tickets to be handed out.

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) revealed the locations of six new sets of average speed safety cameras yesterday, expanding its planned network to 17 stretches of road across the country.

The new cameras calculate a vehicle’s average speed over a length of road, with a camera at the start and another at the end. Drivers are ticketed if their average speed over the whole zone exceeds the limit.

The camera zones will be signposted and all revenue from infringements will go into the Government Consolidated Fund, not to NZTA.

The first set of cameras, on Matakana Road in Warkworth, was due to go live on December 1.

The move appeared to be popular with road safety experts. AA road safety spokesperson Dylan Thomsen told 1News they had been "very effective" in getting people to stick to the speed limit overseas.

"They also tend to have significant crash reductions between 20% and 50% on the routes they're introduced," he said. "These cameras are actually some really smart and effective enforcement."

Thomsen said that because average speed cameras measured a vehicle's speed over a sustained period of time, rather than a "snapshot of one moment", there would be fewer speeding tickets issued.

"A complaint that you can commonly hear from somebody who might've received a speeding ticket is that you know their speed has just crept up a bit inadvertently, without them realising it," he said.

"With the average speed cameras, if somebody's speed inadvertently creeps up a bit, and then they realise that, and they bring it back down to the limit, they shouldn't be looking to add a ticket."

Caroline Perry, director of road safety charity Brake, agreed and said that because the cameras essentially forced drivers to stick to the speed limit for the entire stretch of road, there would be fewer fatalities and injuries.

"Whether or not speed is the cause of a crash, it's a factor in the likelihood of someone being killed or seriously injured."

In the UK, where average speed cameras have been used for decades, research showed they reduce road fatalities. According to the Royal Automobile Club, the number of deaths on Scotland's A9 halved between 2014 and 2018.

In Australia, New South Wales Transport said there had been a 44% reduction in deaths from heavy-vehicle crashes at locations with average speed safety cameras.

The US Federal Highway Administration found that average speed cameras could reduce fatal and injury crashes on urban expressways, freeways and principal arterial roads by up to 37%.

Perry at Brake said she hoped the new cameras would be part of a driving "behaviour change" in New Zealand.

"There are lots of other things that we need in terms of road safety to reduce deaths and serious injuries that we have, but this is one of those measures that we can use, which have been proven to be effective and help save lives on our roads."

She said it would be good to maintain a mix of static and average-speed safety cameras, as "certain locations benefit more" from each.

NZTA has revealed the locations for 17 cameras in Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Hawke's Bay, Manawatū-Whanganui, Wellington, Canterbury, Otago, and Southland.

The locations were selected based on crash patterns, traffic volumes and the number of drivers exceeding the limit.

“The risk of crashes is significantly reduced if more people drive to the speed limit. By installing average speed safety cameras, we are reducing that risk and making these roads safer for everyone who uses them," Tara Macmillan, NZTA Head of Regulatory Strategic Programmes, said yesterday.

The new cameras are part of several new initiatives introduced by NZTA since it took over control of speed cameras from police in July.

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