Thanks for the heads up

Ouranos:

 

It seems that some people miss the message every year.

 

 

That info could simply reflect traffic volumes ... ie more total tickets issued because more people are on the roads, rather than a higher infringement rate.

Tickets per total km driven by motorists would be more meaningful statistic.

Ditto road toll.  Best statistics are casualties per billion km driven.

I'm still sure this makes no difference whatsoever to the road toll, in fact I'd go so far as to say it makes things more dangerous, as people spend twice the time speedometer watching instead of watching the road.

Drivers going 5 - 10 km/h over the limit aren't the problem, and never have been. This is an easy money maker, and an easy 'out' for the police to say they're actually doing something about the rather high road toll, when what we need for a start is better initial education, mandatory defensive driving courses, and probably more regular re-testing.

The number of drivers who are incapable of using turning and merging lanes, and who seem completely oblivious about who is behind them and what speed they are actually driving is unbelievable. How many times have you followed someone doing 80 - 90, then the moment the road widens and there's a passing lane they nail it to 110, then back to 80 - 90 after the passing lane. Does my head in. 

MikeAqua:

 

Ouranos:

 

It seems that some people miss the message every year.

 

 

 

That info could simply reflect traffic volumes ... ie more total tickets issued because more people are on the roads, rather than a higher infringement rate.

 

Tickets per total km driven by motorists would be more meaningful statistic.

 

Ditto road toll.  Best statistics are casualties per billion km driven.

 

A perfect example of correlation does not imply causation. 

A significant amount of kiwi businesses have a forced shutdown period from around 20th December until 5th ish January.

So while there are perhaps less people on the road, more people will have different sources of unusual stresses, (time, financial and personal) 

People will also be driving unfamiliar roads travelling to and from their destinations. 

Some people will be driving unfamiliar cars they've rented and borrowed.

And then on the other hand, factor in an increased police presence, more police sitting in known driving bottlenecks so increasing the car vs camera interactions and you've got a recipe for revenue gathering arguments and an increased speed ping rate.

Geektastic:

 

dolsen:

 

I'm fairly annoyed about last year as I received my first 2 speed camera tickets ever (before the 14th Dec). Both for $30. Both wouldn't have been received with the normal tolerance. Both were on Ngauranga Gorge in perfect conditions where going 85 instead of 80 was in no way dangerous.

 

I'm still rather annoyed about this.

 

 

You're annoyed because you broke the law or that they caught you breaking it?

 

I'm annoyed that I received a ticket due to changed parameters that were not communicated when they said they would be.

I'm annoyed that, going 85km/h on SH1, where there are 6 lanes with a median barrier in sunny, dry conditions with little traffic, going with the flow of traffic (and leaving a good stopping distance) I received a ticket when on the majority of days in the year I would not have in the exact same conditions. The only change in those conditions was an enforcement one that was not communicated.

Yes, you could say I didn't drive to the conditions, the speed limit being one of the conditions and you would be right.

Having said that, in no way was the driving I was doing dangerous at all. There was no significant difference in danger between going 85km/h and 80km/h in those conditions.

If they want to change driver behaviour by lowering the speed  enforcement limit, they actually have to communicate that to have that effect! If they only lower the enforcement limit without notifying the public, they are not changing behaviours and "increasing safety", they are only increasing their revenue.

In my opinion, one of the better ways of improving outcomes would be to introduce drivers education as part of the curriculum at school. I think that this would increase the base skill level of new drivers, and, provide benefits to those people who are "unable to work" due to lack of licence.

I believe that the overall standard of driving is low in New Zealand. How many times have you been trying to merge onto the motorway but been stuck behind some person who wants to merge with the 100km/h traffic at 60km/h. Must be safe because they are going bellow the speed limit, right?
Or people who think it's ok to be in the right hand lane, even though they are not passing. Sometimes they are wilfully annoying the people behind (there was a news article recently about someone who "chose not to be considerate", but, I can't find it at the moment).
People who feel the need to significantly slow down on all corners instead of driving smoothly around them at a higher speed, but, then feel the need to speed up if someone wants to pass them, increasing the frustration levels of those people behind them.

Ingrain those skills in people when they are younger as part of a structured course where there is more time to focus on this would have been beneficial. Having said that, I understand that there are time, budget and skill constraints that make this a difficult thing to implement. If the curriculum is already full, what needs to be taken out to provide this coverage? With the decrease in number of young people getting their licences, the increasing viability of public transport and the near arrival of self driving cars, perhaps this is an idea too late.

MikeAqua:

 

Ouranos:

 

It seems that some people miss the message every year.

 

 

 

That info could simply reflect traffic volumes ... ie more total tickets issued because more people are on the roads, rather than a higher infringement rate.

 

Tickets per total km driven by motorists would be more meaningful statistic.

 

Ditto road toll.  Best statistics are casualties per billion km driven.

 

Except that the spikes are associated only with the periods when the reduced speed tolerance applied. The first spike occurs in February 2012 - when the first trial of this scheme was held. The following Dec 2012 / Jan 2013 period does not have a spike, because the scheme was not applied then even though traffic volumes were higher.

By the way, the effect is larger than the chart implies, because the bars are whole months but the reduced tolerance applied for only part of the month.

I am confused...why should they have to advertise it?  The speed limit is the speed limit, regardless of if you agree with it or not.  Exceed that by even 1 km/h and Police are entirely within their mandate to stop you and using their discretion decide to issue a ticket or not.  The tolerance is not a pseudo speed limit, but clearly many think otherwise. 

Agree with the philosophy or not, I find it funny that safety risk from speeding changes during holiday periods.  Surely it should be constant?  Just make it 4 km/h all the time and be done with it.   

What is a speed limit?

Why is there a tolerance?

If the tolerance of 4km/h works alright why does it have to vary? Why cant it always be 4km/h?

Limit or Target? Hmm..

I wonder if police cars are GPS tracked for speed. I was following one through Dome valley on Sunday at a constant 95 and in some spots he was up to 100 and i kept 50M behind him the whole time and speed matched him. No lights or sirens displayed, he didn't seem to care about me. 
Nailed him in the overtaking lane too around the bend at the top heading south. 

I wonder tho, if a corner has a posted speed of 45 and I come around it at 70-80 would they care? 

Those of you who are planning to place Christmas lights/decorations in your yards, can you please avoid anything that is red or blue and flashing? Every time I drive by, I think it's the police and have a panic attack. I have to take my foot off the accelerator, toss my beer, fasten my seat belt, throw my phone on the floor, turn my radio down, push the gun under the seat and put my clothes back on.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

 ............ MERRY CHRISTMAS!! 🎄TO YOU ALL AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Coil:

 

I wonder if police cars are GPS tracked for speed. I was following one through Dome valley on Sunday at a constant 95 and in some spots he was up to 100 and i kept 50M behind him the whole time and speed matched him. No lights or sirens displayed, he didn't seem to care about me. 
Nailed him in the overtaking lane too around the bend at the top heading south. 

 

I wonder tho, if a corner has a posted speed of 45 and I come around it at 70-80 would they care? 

 

I don't know about GPS tracking, but Police vehicles receive speeding infringements too, as this chart shows.

Source (for this chart and the previous one): Spreadsheet at the bottom of http://www.police.govt.nz/about-us/publication/road-policing-driver-offence-data-january-2009-june-2017

Coil:

 

I wonder if police cars are GPS tracked for speed. I was following one through Dome valley on Sunday at a constant 95 and in some spots he was up to 100 and i kept 50M behind him the whole time and speed matched him. No lights or sirens displayed, he didn't seem to care about me. 
Nailed him in the overtaking lane too around the bend at the top heading south. 

 

I wonder tho, if a corner has a posted speed of 45 and I come around it at 70-80 would they care? 

 

We had some pass a park the other day, on a busy Sunday for kids football.  In a 50km area they were doing in excess of 100.  One of the parents who was also a cop complained, saying unless an officer was in trouble there's no reason they should have been going that speed.

davidcole:

 

Coil:

 

I wonder if police cars are GPS tracked for speed. I was following one through Dome valley on Sunday at a constant 95 and in some spots he was up to 100 and i kept 50M behind him the whole time and speed matched him. No lights or sirens displayed, he didn't seem to care about me. 
Nailed him in the overtaking lane too around the bend at the top heading south. 

 

I wonder tho, if a corner has a posted speed of 45 and I come around it at 70-80 would they care? 

 

 

We had some pass a park the other day, on a busy Sunday for kids football.  In a 50km area they were doing in excess of 100.  One of the parents who was also a cop complained, saying unless an officer was in trouble there's no reason they should have been going that speed.

 

In my place of work we track some emergency vehicles and have had a request for further information regarding speeding of some of their vehicles recently. I think they maybe cracking down on just that.

Just a further random comment.

If you drive a car with some larger wheels (Mud tires on a 4x4 or ridiculous puddle jumping Ford Rangers with 22" mags on them) your speedo is gonna read WAY lower than you are travelling.

Old Hilux read spot on with 31" tires and then went to 33" and you would sit on 87 but actually be doing 100.

Coil:

 

I wonder tho, if a corner has a posted speed of 45 and I come around it at 70-80 would they care? 

 

The ones on corners are only recommended "comfortable" speeds, not legal limits. I find you can  add 20km/h to them and still be comfortable...