NZ's highest-earning red light camera rakes in nearly $650,000 in fines in first year

Brian from New Lynn

Motorists on Auckland’s North Shore have kept a red-light camera extremely busy in its first year of operation.
In the 12 months from June 2018 to June to 2019, $642,000 in fines were issued by the fixed-position camera.
It's a figure that even the AA, which supports the use of red-light cameras, says is concerning. “A camera issuing that many tickets, your're just not getting the right road safety result,” AA advisor Barney Irvine told Seven Sharp.
The camera was installed at the intersection of Esmonde Road and Fred Thomas Drive, near the Northern Motorway on-ramp, as part of a wider rollout of cameras across the city. Each new single camera costs $46,828, generally purchased by Auckland Transport and is monitored by police. “The camera there issued two-thousand tickets in the first four months of the year, and that’s way ahead of what we’re seeing on other roads with the same amount of traffic. It’s just far too high,” Mr Irvine says. The AA is now calling on Auckland Transport to investigate other options for cracking down on red-light infringements. In a statement, Auckland Transport says that it is aware that “this intersection is a high infringement zone” and that they are looking at ways to make signage and signals clearer. “This will include additional traffic lights (one that sits over the intersection) and flashing studs in the road seal to warn people of the upcoming red signal.” Mr Irvine says sometimes a red-light camera by itself just isn’t enough.
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