Police get hurry-up on camera trial

The Mayoral Drive-Queen St intersection has no camera, and twice as many violators were counted. Photo / Paul Estcourt

A Government decision on whether red-light cameras should be installed at dangerous intersections throughout New Zealand are being delayed by police evaluations of a two-year-old trial in Auckland City.

Although it has been a year since the city council reported an average 43 per cent drop in offending at six intersections at which the digital cameras are being used, the police say they need more time to finish evaluating the trial for themselves.

This is frustrating the Automobile Association and Local Authority Traffic Institute, which say councils elsewhere are keen to stop potentially lethal red-light runners.

"This trial has been going on for two years and the AA believes it is overdue that the trial is completed and we can move on with the wider programme," association spokesman Mike Noon said yesterday.

"Many other cities are eagerly awaiting the results so they can implement programmes themselves."

Traffic Institute vice-president John Gottler said red-light cameras were important tools used worldwide to save lives "and we'd like the police to go a bit quicker on this".

"If you allow people to continually run red lights, not only do you get crashes but their behaviour starts to transfer throughout the whole of the driver's operation."

Fear of crashes at intersections also reduced traffic network efficiency, because many drivers hesitated when signals turned to green in case opposing vehicles ran the lights.

Police spokesman Grant Ogilvie said the trial's duration was governed by the fact his organisation was working with a small data set of crashes and incidents.

It had needed more time "to gather reliable data on which to draw meaningful conclusions".

He said the police expected to complete a full report before the end of the year.

The trial began in May, 2008, with three digital cameras being rotated through 10 of the central city's most dangerous intersections.

Mr Ogilvie said that by last month, police had issued 6472 infringement notices to red-light runners caught in the cameras' bright flashes. At $150 a time, that would have amounted to more than $970,000 in fines.

The police received only three requests for court hearings in 16 months and each case was prosecuted successfully.

The city council, which has added $282,000 to Transport Agency and Auckland Regional Transport Authority money for the $800,000 trial, reported in June last year a 43 per cent average drop in red-light running at six intersections guarded by cameras.

That compared with average reductions of 7 to 8 per cent at 14 intersections without cameras.

Two days before the trial, the Herald counted 26 red-light runners in an hour at the intersection of Symonds St and Karangahape Rd - one of those now covered by cameras - compared with 46 at the same site a year and a half earlier.

Reporters counted three offences there yesterday, compared with six at Queen St's intersection with Mayoral Drive, which is not in the trial.

Despite the trial's apparent success in modifying driving behaviour, the city council is still waiting for the Government to respond to an offer it made in October to take over administration duties from the police and to boost camera numbers in return for a half share of fines, to be re-invested in local road safety initiatives.

Council transport committee chairman Ken Baguley said Transport Minister Steven Joyce appeared "sympathetic" to the idea but had told him the Government had to wait for the police and other agencies to work through the implications.

"He has indicated that extending it [the camera network] and putting the funds that are generated into extending safety campaigns is generally a sound idea," Mr Baguley said.

Mr Joyce is visiting China and could not be reached.

HOW EFFECTIVE ARE THEY? TWO HOTSPOTS COMPARED

The Herald surveyed two troublespots for red-light running in central Auckland.

The first was the intersection of Symonds St and Grafton Bridge, which had a red light camera in place to snap cars ignoring traffic lights.

The second was the intersection where Mayoral Drive meets Queen St and had no camera.

Both sites were monitored between 2.30pm and 3.30pm.

Red-light runners were defined as cars that crossed the lane line as the lights were turning red.

Mayoral Drive was busy and had six red-light runners and many cars which were driven through the late stages of amber lights.

One red-light runner in a late-model Honda sped through the intersection and missed oncoming cars by seconds.

In the hour at the Grafton Bridge and Symonds St intersection, three cars and one cyclist ran red lights.

The red light camera has been at this intersection for more than two years.

It was visible in its large grey box and its existence was probably known to most drivers.

One bus was driven at speed in the through the lights in late stage of an amber phase.

The thing we noticed most in both locations was the number of pedestrians who crossed the road against the lights.