We may be soft on speed, but that’s not the only problem driving the road toll
Tuesday, 7 July 2026
Mike Yardley is a Christchurch-based writer and commentator on current affairs, and a regular opinion contributor.
OPINION: Crash Nation, the current series of articles in The Press on South Island road crashes, is making for an absorbing, sobering read.
As the national road toll ticks up, Saturday’s article highlighted the dearth of fixed speed cameras in the south, and how the initial programme for a national network of 824 safety cameras has been dramatically scaled back. The previous government’s Road to Zero programme envisaged rolling out this extensive network by 2031.
However, with Road to Zero ditched in 2024 by the current Government, the NZTA’s plans are now for 204 safety cameras to be operative by June next year. As The Press journalist Charlie Mitchell writes, “the South Island has effectively no fixed speed cameras north of Leeston, near Christchurch, and just four outside urban Dunedin. There are none on the West Coast.”
I would strongly challenge that there is a correlation between the rising road toll and the lack of fixed speed cameras.
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In Canterbury, we currently have just two fixed speed cameras. One is on Leeston Rd in Springston, while the other is on SH1 in Temuka. But despite the paucity of fixed cameras, Canterbury’s regional road toll for the year to date is at a four-year low. Sixteen fatalities have been recorded for the year through to July 6, compared to 21 fatalities in the corresponding period in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Similarly, despite the lack of fixed cameras in Otago, the regional toll hasn’t budged in five years, with six fatalities recorded through to July 6, mirroring the year-to-date toll since 2022.
Compare that to Wellington, where the year-to-date regional toll is at a three-year high, despite having seven fixed cameras. It is the North Island that is driving the upswing in the national road toll. As just one example, Northland’s fatality count is up 50% year on year through to July 6.
Beyond the debate about the merits of more fixed cameras, I personally favour mobile camera deployment as a far more effective enforcement tool. The NZTA has a fleet of mobile cameras deployed in unmarked SUVs and trailers, which operate 24/7 nationwide “anytime and anywhere”. They’re not hidden, but they are also not signposted. It’s the element of surprise that surely is critical to collar the recidivist, reckless speedster. Add to that the “anywhere, anytime” speed enforcement by police.
Charlie Mitchell’s opinion piece rightly ridicules New Zealand’s soft-touch penalty regime for speeding infringements, which he characterises as “not so much a punishment as a service charge”. We are hopelessly lenient with our wet lettuce fines when lined up against comparable nations, like Australia.
But I certainly don’t mourn the ditching of the Road to Zero strategy by this Government in 2024. Launched four years earlier, it demonstrably failed to fire, with its obsessive ideology centred around slowing the nation down. Despite the strategy’s giddy proliferation of slashed speed limits, the national road toll stubbornly galloped northwards.
Most road safety reports conclude that excessive speed is a contributing factor in 25–30% of road fatalities. But just as our fines for speeding are quite pathetic, so they are for the full array of traffic offences.
Handheld cellphone use behind the wheel remains a chronic national disease. The fine was raised to $150 several years ago, but the same offence will see you clobbered with a $1250 fine in Queensland. Driver distraction is an insidiously deadly threat.
Equally baffling is the bloody-mindedness of some drivers and the fatal consequences. Refusing to wear a seatbelt warrants its own special category of recalcitrance. The AA Research Foundation recently concluded that 26% of vehicle occupants killed in crashes weren’t buckled up. Failing to wear a seatbelt could cop you a $150 fine here. Queensland? $1291.
But one recent road policing initiative that should pack a punch is the nationwide roll-out of random roadside drug testing. Ministry of Transport crash data determines drug-impaired drivers are responsible for 30% of all road deaths. Following Wellington’s launch in December, it has progressively expanded across police districts, including Canterbury, this year.
The roadside testing regime is detecting a positivity rate of 3.6%. Rather than just obsessing over speed, taking aim at this monstrous menace is hugely welcome.