Councils may get wish to operate own speed cameras
Councils could get their wish of being able to operate their own speed cameras, under a move being considered by the government.
It is one of a raft of road safety matters under scrutiny by the Ministry of Transport as it looks at how best to use technology to enforce driver compliance.
Welcoming the move is Andy Foster, president of Trafinz, which represents local authority views on road safety and traffic management.
‘‘We often get calls from residents asking for safety cameras,’’ he said.
‘‘We tell them, ‘Of course we have to ask the police and, given the tiny number in the country, it’s hardly likely they’ll say yes to your suburban arterial road’.
‘‘The answer will always be no. Councils are saying, ‘if we want safe outcomes on our streets, shouldn’t we be able to do that kind of thing?’.’’
The ministry’s manager of mobility and safety, Brent Johnston, said it was looking at the overall approach of technology to support compliance.
‘‘As part of that work, we will be looking at whether or not ownership and operation of those cameras should be done centrally or locally.’’
Draft strategy documents on the issue will be released for consultation early next year.
There are 48 static and 44 mobile speed cameras operated by police, as well as 18 operated by the NZ Transport Agency in Auckland’s Waterview Tunnel.
Sweden has 1615 speed cameras and a further 175 planned each year. It has about 141,000 kilometres of public road; New Zealand has 94,000km.
Foster said councils had felt hamstrung in their ability to address safety measures because of obstacles in the process of obtaining funding and approval from central government.
But he was encouraged by recent changes to the way councils were funded for road safety projects, which he said should see more work carried out more quickly, resulting in safer roads and fewer deaths and serious injuries.
Nearly 90 per cent of New Zealand’s roads are administered by councils, with half the road deaths and two-thirds of all serious injuries happening on council roads.
Foster said the new government was ‘‘sending very positive signals’’ about wanting to do something about road trauma.
The 2018-21 National Land Transport Programme includes $1.26 billion planned investment to improve safety on local roads.
About $730 million of that will come from the government’s National Land Transport Fund, with the rest coming from councils.
‘‘The last government focused on a few roads which were about moving people and freight around faster,’’ Foster said.
‘‘Those roads are very safe, but they’re such a tiny fraction of the network it meant the rest of the network got starved.
‘‘You’ve got more traffic but it’s on roads that aren’t divided. There’s a bit of paint between two vehicles travelling at
100kmh towards each other. That’s not terribly reassuring.’’
Councils receive funding assistance of at least 51 per cent for road improvements, depending on their ability to pay.
The latest programme saw the agency acknowledge that some councils struggled to afford road improvements, so it introduced a Targeted Enhanced Funding Assistance Rate for improvements with ‘‘high’’ or ‘‘very high’’ priority. That rate can be as much as
90 per cent of the cost of work.
The Transport Agency is working with councils to identify the specific projects that will receive the extra funding.
Foster said the aim was that councils would do more because they could afford to.
‘‘In the urban area, it will be things like traffic calming, roundabouts, traffic lights, pedestrian improvements, those sorts of things.
‘‘In the rural areas, where the biggest issues are head-on collisions, it will go toward things like median and side barriers, rumble strips, and roundabouts.’’