KEY POINTS:
Drivers who run red lights at Auckland intersections will start receiving letters over summer pointing out their sins against road safety and warning them that enforcement cameras are not far away.
Auckland City Council road safety manager Karen Hay said yesterday that an 0800 phone service would be set up soon for people to provide details of vehicles driving through red lights.
Offenders would be sent polite letters from the council in the first instance, alerting them to a safety campaign against a practice which has caused seven deaths in the city in five years.
But although the initial emphasis would be on educating miscreant drivers, Ms Hay said they would be warned about moves to rotate at least two digital cameras around 11 of central Auckland's most dangerous intersections in a three-year trial.
These will be operated by the police, who have indicated verbal support for the trial but are still assessing operational issues before signing up to the $750,000 trial, which has won support from Government funding agency Land Transport NZ.
That organisation has approved a contribution of 53 per cent to the Auckland Regional Transport Authority of a core cost of $406,800 for setting up the cameras.
The city council and agencies such as the Accident Compensation Corporation will share other costs, which are expected to include $246,200 in police time and enforcement.
Auckland City road policing manager Inspector Heather Wells said she was keen on the project but final details were still being worked out with the police infringement bureau before it could be approved by Police Commissioner Howard Broad. The fine for running a red light is $150.
Surveys by the city council and the Herald have shown that dozens of vehicles drive through red lights at busy intersections every hour, including buses, trucks, taxis and courier vans.
The Herald watched 43 vehicles running the red at the Karangahape Rd-Symonds St intersection on a Thursday afternoon in October between 2.30pm and 3.30pm, then returned to the scene of the crime exactly a week later and counted 46 offenders.
