KAIKOHE - Drivers on three mid-Northland roads will have their vehicle speeds electronically checked next week, but there will be no speeding tickets issued or fines to pay if they are going too fast.
As an exercise in road safety education, Roadsafe Northland will test a trailer-mounted speed-check device recently introduced to New Zealand and tested in the South Island.
The speed-check device, on hire from Christchurch, displays the speed of passing vehicles on a panel and flashes up the amount of the fine speeding drivers would have to pay if the check was made by a police-operated speed camera.
Roadsafe Northland coordinator Bill Rossiter said the speed-check trailers had been operated for some years in Norway and Denmark as a caution to drivers travelling too fast.
In New Zealand, the device had been used extensively on roads passing schools and there had been positive feedback from schools and the road-using public on the new approach.
The device can also be used by councils as a road traffic counter and traffic density indicator.
Mr Rossiter said Roadsafe hoped to buy a unit for the region and would approach Northland local bodies for funding.
The demonstration trial will be on August 17 on State Highway 12 near Kaikohe on the approach to Ohaewai, in a 50 km/h zone on Mangakahia Rd in Kaikohe, and at Kawakawa, on the main road to Paihia.
The three sites have been selected after discussions with police.
Speed device on trial
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