Opinion: Cameras needed to put brake on speeding

A fixed speed camera in Northland. Photo/file

A new speed camera will soon be coming to the Western Bay.

It will be the only fixed speed camera in the Bay. There are four mobile cameras that get moved around the region but we don't have any in a permanent location.

One of the common complaints I hear about speed cameras is that they are just revenue-gathering machines.

I can understand this complaint - it hardly seems fair to get a speeding ticket for going mere kilometres over the limit, especially for those who believe their driving skills are exceptional and would never cause a crash.

But I will not accuse the police of revenue gathering for doing what is an important part of their job - preventing serious injury or death.

About eight years ago, I got a speeding ticket on the Pukehina straights. I didn't even realise I was speeding, it had crept up on me.

I certainly don't think I was in any danger of hurting myself or others, but the sting of a fine soon taught me that breaking the law wasn't worth it and I've become far more careful about my speed.

That in itself proves the ticket did its job. I was caught breaking the law, was duly punished and have learned my lesson.

Since that time, I've been called out a handful of times to cover serious crashes on that safe-seeming stretch of road.

It doesn't matter how good a driver one is when it comes to speed. You can be the best driver in the world cruising along a straight road at 120km/h. But if a driver doing 80 falls asleep, crosses the centre line and smacks into you head-on, your speed can be the difference between serious injury or death.

The faster you go, the bigger the mess, even when you're not at fault.