Questions linger over Whitford Brown Ave camera

The Whitford Brown Ave speed camera has been controversial from the get-go. When it was installed halfway up the busy road in Aotea in September 2014, it was placed behind a tree. That provoked outrage with suggestions that the police were deliberately making it difficult to spot.

Early last year, we started hearing grumbling from Porirua residents that their fines were building up. Many were for speeds of 56kmh and 57kmh, just over the 5km threshold of the posted speed limit. A police spokesman said the camera was installed because Whitford Brown Ave had a history of crashes – nearly 30 in a decade.

We ran a story on the camera in March. Before publishing it, we had other questions – the fastest speeds that had been clocked, how many fines were handed out in the first few months, how much money had been collected etc.

The police refused our requests, referring to a ‘‘technical recording error’’ on this camera. Besides, we were told, giving out the highest speeds recorded risked public safety as motorists would try to beat the top ‘‘record’’.

We complained to the Ombudsman about the police’s unwillingness to provide information that should be in the public domain. That complaint is still being dealt with.

Meanwhile, last week, the New Zealand Herald and The Dominion Post were given the infringement notice numbers and fine totals for the busiest speed cameras in the country. Whitford Brown Ave’s camera was the most lucrative in New Zealand, bringing in a staggering $1.1 million in nine months last year.

We have found the police to be at best unhelpful and at worst untruthful in these dealings. Do police communications employees see more worth staying on the good side of our daily newspaper colleagues?

At the end of the day, there are questions still unanswered regarding this camera.

Whitford Brown Ave is not a tourist highway – you are more likely to be going to or from work, dropping children at school or visiting someone in Aotea, Ascot Park or Whitby if you drive there.

How can 15,273 tickets be given out by one camera in nine months to people who use it daily?

Either Porirua is a city in which everyone races around deliberately flouting the speed limit, or the Whitford Brown Ave camera speed limit is set artificially low.

We are keen to hear your views on this. Write to editor@kmananews.co.nz.