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Last week I wrote a post in regard to a recent announcement from Acting Superintendent Gini Welch that the NZ Police would now be operating a zero-tolerance speed limit breach policy permanently. In that post, I looked at some of the thinking behind the Police’s sudden urge to ticket everyone for even the most minor of speed limit infractions and the link to the mostly pointless Green fascination, Vision Zero. Funny though, the Police website still says there is a 4km/h tolerance. But while researching a few statistics for that post, I came across some interesting information.
You may not have noticed but lately there has been a bit going on around the country in regard to the vicious killer disease COVID-19. Part of the Government’s response to stop the slaughter [sarc] has been to order everyone to stay in their homes for a large portion of the last few months.
It is not then surprising that the stats show that there has been a bit of a hit in relation to speed camera income. The statistics measure not only the number of tickets issued via the various forms of enforcement, such as static cameras, mobile cameras, officer issued tickets etc, but the actual dollar amount of those fines too. (They even show the number of speeding offences and tickets issued by our boys in blue.)
Naturally, when you put most of the country into house arrest, people tend not to be driving around willy-nilly, so it is only natural that the amount of speed camera tickets issued would be down, but by how much?
For the April – May – June period this year, the amount of speed camera tickets issued through both mobile and static cameras is down by 98,274 from the same period in 2019. [2019=225,324 versus 2020=127,050].
Likewise, the monetary figure for those issued tickets above reduced by $5.87 million. [Apr through June 2019=$17.8m versus 2020=$11.93m].
Could it be that last week’s Zero Tolerance announcement is in actuality just another way to boost the coffers?
When delving a little futher into the statistics some other interesting information becomes noticible too. While speed camera tickets are down for the lockdown period, officer issued notices are up 28%, from 64052 in Apr-May-June 2019 to 82291 for the same months in 2020. Interestingly the monetary value of those tickets was only up around 16% from $8.4m to $9.7m.
So I wonder what might have caused that increase? Was it just that with everyone locked up for their own safety, the Cops, after having locked up all the surfers, had nothing better to do with their days so spent more time swinging from the radar guns? Or maybe it was simply that as there was less traffic on the roads, it was just easier to catch people? Maybe people were so stressed they were driving faster? Maybe people simply were driving faster because the roads were clearer and perhaps they felt safe driving that little bit quicker than usual?
Another strange anomaly when looking at the figures is how much they have changed over the years. When looking at the annual monetary figures over the last few years, it is apparent that static speed camera’s were bringing in only around ten to fifteen million dollars each year. [2015=$10.1m, 2016=$11.8m, 2017=$15.3m].
All of a sudden though things jumped up drastically. In 2018 those static speed cameras returned a whopping $54.8m and 2019 was even more lucrative at $55.2m. (Mobile speed camera vans have been reasonably steady at around $25mil every year).
There are two reasons that I can see for this. The first being that there was a change of government late in 2017. One which brought the car hating Green Party into a semblance of power.
The second was the rolling out, at about the same time, of the new static speed cameras at a few new sites around the country. In case you aren’t sure where they all are, here is a list of all the locations, courtesy of the Police website.
These cameras are the first round of a programme to bring in ever more stringent enforcement. Likely soon to be introduced will be Average Speed Cameras such as are used a lot in the UK and Australia.
But first I think we will see these so called ‘Safer Speed Cameras’ let loose to fulfil their potential. You see, these cameras can also read your numberplate, much like the tolling cameras north of Auckland. That means that the Police, basically with the push of a button, could start issuing tickets for all manner of other offences such as expired WoF or registration and potentially Road User Charges etc. Seatbelt offences, phone usage and the like won’t be far away.
They all have the capability now and are tracking basic offences as we speak, gathering intelligence for your government about how many offenders there are out there right now. It is only a matter of time before tickets start getting sent out in the mail.
Then let’s see the revenue jump up to levels never seen before. $55 million will be chickenfeed compared to what these things will bring in.
It will all be justified as necessary for road safety of course, and it is highly unlikely that any form of government will turn down the dollars that will be injected yearly into the consolidated fund.
I wonder how the road toll will track once this happens? My prediction will be a small decrease for three or four years due to fear, maybe in the region of 10%, then back to the current, (pre COVID) levels, as people learn to live with the intrusion and get on with their lives.
One thing will be for sure though, they will be here to stay. And you can take it to the bank that if the Green Eco-fascists are anywhere near the halls of power, they will be pushing for the introduction of demerit points for speed camera offences.
Think how many of us will be forced into cycling then!
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