Thousands are pinged for running red lights every year. File photo / Michelle Hyslop
Thousands are pinged for running red lights every year. File photo / Michelle Hyslop
More people are getting caught running red lights and refusing to cough up the fines.
More than 18,100 infringement notices issued nationwide in the three years to June 30 2021 for failing to stop at a red light - captured by fixed cameras - remain unpaid after their due date,police said in response to a request under the Official Information Act.
Unpaid tickets are referred to the Ministry of Justice for enforcement, where they become a court fine and go into the Government's Consolidated Fund.
There were 6145 unpaid tickets referred to the ministry in the 2020/21 financial year, up from 5303 a year earlier and 5958 in 2018/19.
In Auckland's three police districts more than 400 camera-captured red light tickets issued in the past five years were either waived or the recipient was found not guilty in court.
Meanwhile, the city's worst camera-enforced intersection for red light running in the year to June was Esmonde Rd and Fred Thomas Dr in Takapuna, with 1386 tickets issued.
Papatoetoe's East Tāmaki and Huia roads was second, with 1222, and 1160 tickets were issued at Waterview's Great North and Blockhouse Bay roads, according to police.
Police had a firm message for red light law-breakers.
"It's a risk not worth taking", said Inspector John Thornley, of Waitematā.
"There have been a number of crashes where pedestrians and other road users have been seriously injured or killed because someone has chosen to run through a red light."
More than 1300 crashes were reported at Auckland's 36 red light camera-enforced intersections between 2016 and 2020, most resulting in minor or no injury, according to Waka Kotahi.
But more than 30 were seriously injured, and two died.
Eden Hoey died in January 2017 when he drove through a red light at the intersection of Great South Rd and Cavendish Dr in Manukau while fleeing police. Seven others were hurt, two seriously.
A man died in 2017 after his car collided with another in Manukau when he ran a red light while fleeing police. Photo / SNPA / Hayden Woodward
In 2019 Zhengwen Alan Hu died when his car was struck from behind while waiting at a red light at the intersection of Tī Rākau Drive and Botany Rd in Golflands.
Adam Michael Speir is awaiting trial for manslaughter.
Police regularly carried out operations targeting red light runners, "because we know the danger this type of behaviour poses", Thornley said.
Anyone who witnessed red light running should, if safe to do so, report the vehicle's registration number to *555.
While the table-topping intersection for red light running was in his area, Devonport-Takapuna local board member George Wood said he was more concerned about the lack of static speed cameras, and overall police enforcement.
"If you ask Aucklanders what's the worst situation you see on the roads, it is people going through red lights", Wood, a former cop, said.
"[These figures] just show people do go through on the red light - and they deserve to get ticketed."
George Wood is a former police officer and maintains a strong interest in road safety and enforcement. File photo / Dean Purcell
But increased enforcement in other road policing was needed, Wood said, two years on from the launch of Vision Zero, a Swedish road safety plan adopted by Auckland Transport with the goal of cutting deaths and serious injuries on the city's roads by 65 per cent by 2030 and to zero by 2050.
"I've got real concerns when the death toll on our roads has gone up so much this year … [and] it used to be deaths galore in Waikato, but they've reduced them plenty."
Fifty-eight people died on Auckland roads last year [to December 22], compared with 32 over the same period in 2020 and 41 in 2019, according to provisional Ministry of Transport figures.
On Waikato roads over the same period, 46 people died, down from 54 in 2020 and 70 in 2019.
Wood wrote to Police Commissioner Andrew Coster last month about a drop in drink-driving testing, and the lack of static speed cameras in Waitematā East.
"It all gets down to the fact we don't see any police out on our roads, and people deserve to have some level of enforcement."
Staying safe on our roads is everybody's responsibility, says Waitematā Police District Commander, Superintendent Naila Hassan. File photo / Jason Oxenham
Replying on Coster's behalf, Superintendent Naila Hassan wrote that breath-testing and speed enforcement could have been better, but police were "committed to improving this with our road safety partners moving forward".
Drink-driving checkpoints were shelved under Covid-19 alert levels 3 and 4 to prevent spread of the virus, and static speed cameras sites were chosen based on identified crash risk and serious crash history.
Police enforcement, along with the work of partner agencies such as Waka Kotahi, and road and vehicle safety standards, played a significant part in keeping people safe on New Zealand roads, the Waitematā district commander wrote.
But road safety was ultimately "everyone's responsibility".
"We also rely upon drivers to make the right decisions every time they get behind the wheel of a vehicle."
