Trials a sign of things to come?

IDON’T usually take much notice of roading news out of Auckland. However, news that speed camera warning signs and averagespeed cameras are going to be trialled in Auckland are significant for Otago because, if successful, both may be adopted in the South.

Speed camera warning signs are a case of back to the future. The signs, which sit either side of camera sites, were part of the initial roll out of cameras in this country. They were later dropped, but remain part of the road safety set up overseas.

I’ve always felt warning signs, which give motorists a chance to check their speed and slow down if necessary as they approach a known highrisk safety spot (that’s why the camera is there in the first place), make a greater contribution to road safety than unmarked cameras. They also reward the attentive motorist (something we need to do more of) and, in any case, simply provide a visual form of the warning that many satellite navigation systems now provide.

Averagespeed cameras (also known as pointtopoint cameras) measure how long it takes a vehicle to travel along a stretch of road. And, unlike current cameras, which capture a vehicle’s speed at a particular moment in time, these cameras only ticket vehicles travelling at an average speed above the limit over the whole stretch of road.

According to the Automobile Association, overseas experience shows that average speed cameras are better at keeping speeds down than single point cameras. They also have much lower ticketing rates.

Turning to the contents of this week’s Drivesouth, today’s test of the Toyota Camry continues a run of appraisals of NZ Car of the Year finalists that started a few weeks back with my review of the

Kia Stinger.