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Mayor supports Police speed campaign
February 26, 2004

North Shore City's Mayor George Wood says he strongly supports the new campaign by North Shore Police targeted at speeding drivers.

North Shore Police are running a month long campaign, targeting excessive speed in 50kph areas.

Mayor Wood says increased Police moving traffic and speeding enforcement is an effective way of keeping the city's streets safe for everyone and encouraging more walking and cycling to work and school to help ease peak time traffic congestion. He congratulates the Police on the initiative.

"We need the resources to sustain these kind of campaigns on a permanent basis. If people know that the likelihood of getting caught and fined for speeding or red light running is high at all times, not just for a month, then it creates a safer roading environment where people keep to the rules rather than regularly flout them," he says. "We've learnt that lesson when we took over the increased enforcement of our Onewa Road transit lane from the Police."

Mayor Wood says he will talk to the head of the Land Transport Safety Authority about this issue when he visits Wellington next week as it funds the hours that Police put into this kind of work.

"Everyone acknowledges that excessive speed is leading to more crashes in our city and creates a traffic environment that makes it less safe for pedestrians and cyclists. And the prevalence of speeding also makes it harder for us to encourage people to use the more active and environmentally-friendly methods of transport like walking and cycling," says Mayor Wood.

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