In a concerted effort to raise revenue and catch those who regularly disregard the law, New Zealand police have today unveiled a plan to disguise a series of new, next-generation speed cameras as signs informing motorists that there is no speed limit.
Assistant road policing commissioner Dave Cliff, who acknowledged his title couldn’t sound “much less impressive,” said the new speed cameras were a milestone, and an “exciting step forward” for road safety in New Zealand.
Cliff said that police had trialled a “wide range” of potential disguises, but settled upon the no speed limit signs when, in field tests, they proved to be easily the most effective.
“Having speed cameras out in the open is obviously reasonably counterintuitive,” he explained. “All but the most brazen drivers, if they see a speed camera, will slow down to avoid being ticketed. But this doesn’t mean we’re doing anything to stop them speeding in other locations.
“So what we did was, we set up a series of trial speed cameras across the country with various disguises. Some were trees, some were post boxes, and some were signs telling motorists they could go as fast as they liked.
“Interestingly, what we found was, the motorists who passed the trees and post boxes and lamp posts, sped significantly less than those who passed our mock ‘no speed limit’ sign.
“Drivers are savvy, and were clearly aware that the other disguises, were, in fact, speed cameras. We’re not exactly sure how, but we think the evidence speaks for itself.”
Several of the new speed cameras have already been installed across the North Island, where today’s road death toll was reported to be 80.