Auckland gets six new red-light cameras at notorious intersections

Monday, 1 October 2018

Footage taken during testing of a red light camera in Auckland.

As 30 red-light runners are ticketed a day, Auckland is getting six new red-light cameras at some of the city's most dangerous intersections.

Since six red light cameras were switched on in late June, following a Stuff investigation, police have issued more than 2300 infringements in Auckland.

Mayor Phil Goff said the six new red light cameras at were part of ongoing efforts to 'save lives and stop injuries'.

Stuff observations supported the AA's assertion red-light running is endemic in Auckland.

'There is a culture among some drivers that red lights don't matter and can be ignored. That is blatantly wrong and puts the safety of others on the road – drivers, pedestrians and people on bikes – at risk.'

**READ MORE:

Stuff counted 110 drivers run completely red lights in 90 minutes at this East Tamaki and Bairds Rd intersection in Otara in May. Only drivers who entered on the red were counted.

* Auckland Transport's red light cameras haven't worked for years

* Red light runners: Hundreds of crashes, deaths escalating

The red light camera at the intersection of Swanson Rd, and Great North Rd, Henderson west Auckland is one of six across the city which has nabbed drivers since June.

* Auckland could add six red light cameras a year for the next decade

* Six more red light cameras to be installed at 'high risk' Auckland intersections

* Aucklander tossed over red light runner's bonnet calls for action**

The six new cameras, which went live on Monday, were at intersections to the south,west and east of the city would be enforced on a rotational basis.

They were at:

Great South Rd/Cavendish Drive (two sites)

Te Irirangi Drive/Accent Drive (two sites)

Great North Rd/Rata St

Great South Rd/Reagan Rd.

Red light cameras were trialled between 2008 and 2010, and there was a 43 per cent reduction in red-light running and an average 63 per cent decrease in crashes attributable to red-light running, Goff said.

“That’s what we want to see happening again. Yet between 21 June and 7 September this year, 2314 infringements were issued from the six cameras that are already running. That’s 30 times a day when motorists put their own lives and the lives of other at risk.

'With deaths and serious injuries increasing on Auckland roads by 78% in the last four years, three times the national average, we have to change this attitude. That’s why we are installing the additional cameras.”

The sites where red light cameras were turned on on June 21 were:

Lincoln Rd/ Swanson Rd

Lincoln Rd/Te Pai Place

Albany Highway/Oteha Valley Rd

Great North Rd/Karangahape Rd

Blockhouse Bay Rd/New North Rd

Esmonde Rd/ Fred Thomas Drive.

At that time, AA principal advisor for infrastructure and motoring affairs Barney Irvine said red light running in Auckland had become endemic - widespread and entrenched.

Money from red light camera infringements went to the Crown's National Consolidated Fund.

'We are committed to reducing death and serious injuries on our roads by 60 per cent in the next 10 years,' AT's chief executive, Shane Ellison, said.

Six cameras per year would be installed at high-risk intersections, according to Ellison.

'No one should die or be seriously injured on our roads and we are pleased to be working so closely with NZ Police to make our roads safer,' he said.

Superintendent Steve Greally, national manager for road policing, said running red lights 'is just not worth it'.

'You've got to ask yourself; is it worth crashing and risking injury – or worse – killing yourself or someone else?'

Last year, five people in Auckland died in crashes involving running red lights, compared with a total of four deaths in the previous five years.

Auckland's red-light crash figures have steadily climbed to 477 last year, compared with 387 reported crashes in 2012.