The New Zealand Transport Agency issued nearly 80,000 infringement notices in the first two months following its takeover of speed cameras from the police.
The NZTA took over responsibility for the cameras at the start of July, becoming the sole operator of the equipment, while police continue to issue notices for any road offences they detect.
Since then, the agency has rolled out several new tools, including camera-equipped SUVs and trailers, as well as new average speed cameras.
As of September 19, the NZTA was operating 64 fixed speed cameras, one red light camera, and 35 mobile speed cameras.
According to numbers released by the Minister of Transport’s office, following a written Parliamentary question by Labour’s Tangi Utikere, the agency issued a total of 79,364 infringement notices between July 1 and August 31. That number was comprised of 37,821 in July and 41,525 in August.
In July and August 2024, police issued 36,317 and 44,275 infringements from static speed cameras, respectively.
The total dollar value of all infringements from NZTA’s first two months was $4.78 million, with $1.7 million collected as of August 31.
All payments from speed camera tickets were transferred from NZTA to the Crown Consolidated Fund.
The three regions with the most tickets were Auckland, with 19,631, Wellington, which had 13,727, and Waikato, with 4601.
The five fastest speeds recorded over the two months were 204km/h, 193km/h, 175km/h, 171km/h, and 167km/h – all of which NZTA has elected to take action on under the Criminal Procedure Act.
NZTA head of regulatory strategic programmes Tara Macmillan told 1News that operating the cameras allowed the agency to “use them where and when they will be most effective in reducing crashes, preventing serious injuries and saving lives”.
Macmillan said the purpose of speed cameras was to reduce harm on the roads and not generate revenue.
“The evidence clearly shows that where safety cameras have been used in New Zealand and overseas, they reduce speeds and reduce the harm caused by crashes. Because of this, they’re proven to significantly reduce deaths and serious injuries.
“Speed can be the difference between death, a life-changing injury and walking away from a crash unharmed. Alongside other improvements, safety cameras will contribute to a transport system that protects us all.”
AA road safety spokesperson Dylan Thomsen told 1News that while receiving a speeding ticket in the mail may be annoying, cameras save lives.
“We need enforcement to make sure people don’t do crazy, dangerous things on the roads,” he said.
“If we didn’t have any type of enforcement, we know we would have a lot more people doing some, you know, really dangerous, risky things that end up resulting in crashes.”
He said that some of the changes made by NZTA, like the introduction of camera-equipped SUVs, would be effective in changing driver behaviour and, in turn, keeping the roads safe.
“We used to have the vans, and they were pretty easy to spot at a distance for people.
“The SUVs are just a lot more nondescript and don’t really look any different – it could just be a parked vehicle ahead on an urban road or on a highway. It could be a vehicle that’s broken down or pulled over at the side.”
He said the risk of being caught speeding when least expected was enough to deter motorists from exceeding the speed limit.
“If you’re a driver that likes to travel around/ above the speed limit or in the past has liked to travel around/ above the speed limit and then slow down when you’ve spotted one of those vans up ahead, you are going to be more likely to be caught in the future or now, because it is a lot harder to see one of those parked SUVs.”
