Police Admit They Do Not Know Whether Policy On Speeding Saves Lives

UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne says the Police have confirmed they have no information about whether speed cameras and speeding infringement notices save lives.

In response to a recent Official Information Act request, the Police National Manager of Road Policing has advised Mr Dunne that:

Mr Dunne says he is taken aback by this response.

“Police figures show that in 2014/15 there were nearly 1 million speed camera and officer issued infringement notices, and that more than $74 million was imposed in fines, yet neither the Police, nor it appears the Ministry of Transport, cannot say what contribution this policy makes to saving lives.

“Given the regular ‘Speed Kills’ and ‘Zero tolerance’ campaigns the Police mount, I would have thought that some effort to gather data about the impact of the policy was appropriate.

“The apparent absence of such an evidence based approach will fuel the already widespread public view that then Police approach to speeding is essentially more focused on revenue gathering, and that other factors like good road design, and better driver education are more likely to save lives than speed cameras and Police dishing out speeding tickets.

“Even the Minister of Police now seems to agree with that conclusion,” Mr Dunne says.

ENDS

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