I am going against the grain so far here.
I just don't understand why people have an issue with speed cameras. I personally don't find it particularly difficult maintaining a constant speed (aside from the idiot in front who can't, effecting my speed).
No, I don't sit xx kms under the limit. I sit on the limit, in the left hand lane where ever possible. No one has to contribute to this claimed "revenue raising" activity. I certainly haven't in many years. When I did contribute, it was through no one else's fault but my own. I made the decision to no longer contribute.
To those who cry about having to keep their eyes on the speedo for fear of being caught speeding thus creating a distraction from what is happening around them, I say perhaps you should reconsider the priviledge that has been handed to you by way of a driver's licence, proceed to the nearest police station and hand your licence in because you clearly aren't capable of satisfactorily controling a motor vehicle.
To those that deliberately exceed a posted speed limit, tough titties. Your decision to do so. Don't have a sook when you get caught by whatever means.
And Turd,
While I understand you have a general hatred for the way our laws are enforced, this has everything to do with speeding. If people weren't getting snapped by the cameras (i.e. speeding), this issue would not exist.
In theory I would agree, however vehicle speed does alter slightly unless you're driving along perfectly flat roads all the time. Momentarily exceeding the speed limit by a couple of km/h isn't dangerous what so ever yet here in NZ the speed cameras are placed specifically to catch people out in this exact scenario. This isn't saving lives no matter how you look at it.
Where I live it's rather hilly, on the down hills I tend to let the car accelerate a touch knowing full well that with 10-15 seconds when I head back up hill this speed will be wiped off, I'm not speeding excessively and it's momentarily but yet they still place a speed camera in the dip on the road at this hill. Are they saving lives? No as this is not a high accident/injury zone, in fact no major accidents on this road since I have lived here and that is almost a decade now.
BTW, the biggest speedsters on my street are cops, even with flashing lights (and sometimes sirens) they have speed restrictions on urban 50km/h speed zones and I am 100% confident that I have seen cops double this easily. We also have a blind corner/side street at the bottom of our street and I am surprised that we haven't had an accident there yet with the way the cops come down our street, I put this down to luck because there is no way that you could stop a car speeding on a down hill section like our street.
To make matters worse, this Xmas season in NZ, speed tolerances were dropped to 1km/h over the posted speed limit and been enforced for the entire months of December and January. As it stands currently we have more than doubled the death toll of the Xmas/new years break period (16) compared to last year (7) and last year when they only enforced a 4km/h speed tolerance. Something isn't working and it doesn't add up. What does add up though is the increased number of motorists ticketed in the last month, drivers that would not have been ticketed this time last year. BTW, most of the serious death/injury accidents have not been via accidents involving speed, no the accidents have been caused by drivers doing stupid things, the worst one been some idiot in a Landrover doing a U turn in front of a 45 ton logging truck. 4 dead in the blink of an eye and a truck driver scared for life because some guy missed his turn off and decided to try and save time doing a U turn on a state highway just after an overtaking lane!
In a thread I posted earlier I linked an article from the AA in NZ, even they are suggesting the police target areas with high accident rates with speed cameras instead of targeting vehicles on central motorways in Auckland, roads that are designed for this type of speed. Doesn't it say something when one of the leading advocates for road safety is suggesting the cops move cameras to where they would have a real effect! The article goes even further, even though the average speeds in NZ are down the number of tickets issues with speed cameras are up. We are speeding less yet getting ticketed more. This doesn't add up. Vehicles travelling marginally over the speed limit aren't the killers that the cops make then out to be but these are exactly what they are targeting with most speed cameras.
Now, if instead of investing in speed cameras the money was invested in red light cameras I would be down in Wellington to shake the hand of the man who made the decision because targeting red light runners would definitely save lives and most likely pull in just as much revenue as I see it occur daily. Red light cameras also seem to have much more public support and yet this is not happening.
I'll believe speed cameras are not revenue gathering devices when they are targeted specifically as a part of a much larger campaign by the police to reduce speeding and accidents on our road. That should include red light cameras, police enforcement out on the roads etc. All I see are speed cameras on our motorways. This tell me it's not about safety.
BTW, they changed the rules about how speed cameras are operated here in NZ about a decade ago, before speed cameras weren't allowed to be hidden (they did do a hidden speed camera trial but found it didn't alter the speed of vehicles at all) and must have park lights on during the hours of darkness. This was all changed, now I believe the rule says the camera must be visible for 50 meters before you pass it. It is common to see speed camera vehicles hidden behind trees and other such manners in which you basically can't see it until just before you pass it. Effectively there is no way you can check your speed and slow down even if you were only just over the limit. To me this smacks of entrapment. If the purpose of speed cameras is to slow people down then the visual aspect of seeing the speed camera is to slow you down. If you can't see the damn thing then it's not really doing anything to slow people down, just take your picture and send you a fine. Again, not really working as a road safety device, just a revenue gathering one.
I drive at the posted speed limit but I'm not going to feel guilty if the vehicle speed creeps up momentarily. Occasionally I speed intentionally like when overtaking another vehicle as this is the safest way to overtake. You want to spend the least amount of time on the wrong side of the road as possible. Isn't it funny though how it's not uncommon to see speed cameras at overtaking lanes in NZ. Sections of road specifically designed to overtake slow vehicles because on many on NZ's roads they are single lane carriage ways where you can get stuck behind a much slower vehicle for extended periods of time. Vehicles limited to lower speeds than other road vehicles and where it's not uncommon for drivers of said vehicles to be ignorant of the large queues of vehicles behind them. So in these scenarios, when a large queue of vehicles is waiting to pass a slower vehicle and it is safest to do so at a passing lane one would think the cops would not target these areas for speeding yet they do. So what happens instead, people are going to start to take bigger risks overtaking said slower vehicle when it is much less safe to do so because the cops are targeting speedsters at the wrong locations. Who is creating the hazard now? What makes this matter worse is that for some reason, people who tend to travel well below the speed limit tend to accelerate when they come to overtaking lanes.
Why don't cops target those that travel well below the speed limit because they certainly are the cause of many accidents on the road. Oh, that's right, speed cameras only concentrate on vehicles that exceed the speed limit.
Well, I think that about covers how well speed cameras are used to reduce speed and improve road safety here in NZ.
