Existing speed cameras, like this one on SH1 between Kawakawa and Moerewa, measure speed at only a single point in time. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf
One of the first sets of average-speed cameras in the country is about to be installed along a deadly stretch of road near Kaitāia in the Far North.
Unlike traditional speed cameras, which measure speed at a single point in time, average speed-cameras calculate a driver's speed between two locations, which can be kilometres apart.
The fines issued to speeding drivers are the same as for traditional cameras.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) said construction of the cameras would start on Kaitāia-Awaroa Road, which links Kaitāia township with the coastal settlement of Ahipara, on 28 July.
However, the new system was not expected to be operational until next year.
Steve Mutton, NZTA regional relationships director for Auckland and Northland, said there would be four cameras in total between the 80km/h speed limit sign at the Kaitāia end and Sandhills Road in Ahipara at the other.
Mutton said the four cameras would work together, measuring the average speed drivers travelled between them.
"Drivers will only be ticketed if their average travel speed between any two cameras is over the limit - they aren't pinged by a single camera or at a single point where they're over the speed limit," he said.
"We know that average speed safety cameras are more effective at reducing deaths and serious injuries than the traditional speed cameras we've had in New Zealand. Safety cameras will reduce speeding, ensuring that if crashes do happen, the people involved are far more likely to walk away unharmed."
Mutton said a survey in 2024 showed about 75 percent of drivers using Kaitāia-Awaroa Road were speeding, with the average speed over the full distance found to be 89km/h.
The road has sections with 80km/h and 60km/h limits.
Two people were killed and another 13 were seriously injured in crashes on the road between 2018 and 2023, he said.
The initial construction work would include installing power, building foundations and installing barriers.
'Average speed camera area' signs would be erected before the cameras were turned on, Mutton said.
Once operational, it would be one of the first average-speed camera systems in New Zealand.
The first was due to start operating on Matakana Road, near Warkworth, north of Auckland, later this year.
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