The fines for speeding on New Zealand roads could increase for the first time in more than 20 years.
The Ministry of Transport, Te Manatū Waka, is reviewing its infringement fines as part of its Road to Zero action plan.
Accelerating inflation could prove a handy excuse for inflating the cost of excess acceleration.
- Fines for speeding on New Zealand roads have been unchanged since the turn of the century.
- The Ministry of Transport is reviewing them, saying the infringements are "out of date" and "misaligned with the risk that speeding poses".
- International studies have shown that increases in financial penalties for road offences can reduce fatal crashes between 1 and 12%.
- The ministry may explore linking speeding fines to income, and making changes to the demerit system.
The ministry says the speeding fines handed out by police - which range from $30 for a breach of less than 10kph, up to a maximum of $630 - are now "out of date" and “misaligned with the risk that speeding poses”.
Since the Land Transport (Offences and Penalties) Regulations 1999 came into force inflation has soared 68%, meaning an officer handing out a $30 ticket in 2022 is giving the equivalent of a $17 ticket in 1999’s money.
Experts say the review of infringements could be an opportunity to increase the fines, and also consider more radical ideas to deter speeding that have already been used successfully in other OECD countries.
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New Zealand’s speeding tickets are soft when compared to the eight states in neighbouring Australia, which all have different fines systems, and the United Kingdom.
But change will require public buy-in. Transport Minister Michael Wood and Cabinet will consider Te Manatū Waka’s review, when it is ready, before any proposed changes go to public consultation.
The time the review will be finished has yet to be confirmed, but it has been slated for public consultation before the end of 2022.
A spokesperson for Wood said he was awaiting advice from officials.
“It is important that all road safety penalties, including speeding, are appropriate, fair, and deliver a deterrence affect,” he said.
"Speeding is a serious road safety issue, and can have tragic consequences."
Te Manatū Waka spokesperson Matthew Skinner said international studies had shown that increases in financial penalties for road safety offences could reduce fatal crashes between 1% and 12%.
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“Road safety offences and penalties also send a message to the public about what is safe and unsafe on the road,” Skinner said.
“For example, severe penalties for drink-driving signal the high risk of this behaviour to the community.
“Penalties need to be accompanied by high and sustained enforcement to have maximum impact, as well as being perceived as fair and legitimate.”
Skinner said some speeding was due to driver error or inattention, but some decisions to speed were intentional.
“For these people, the size of the penalty and their perception of getting caught can influence whether they speed. We know that appropriate penalties can provide an effective deterrent for many people.”
University of Auckland professor Alistair Woodward, who considers speeding a public health issue, said it seemed “ridiculous” infringements hadn’t increased since the turn of the century.
“I don't know of anything else that’s immune to inflation,” Woodward said.
“Making dangerous behaviour expensive is one of the levers that we've got when we’re trying to make the road safe.
“But if a speeding fine hasn't changed for 20 years, then that suggests that it's really not likely to have the same effect that it had in 1999.”
Should we raise demerit points, or introduce proportionate speeding fines?
Crash analyst and road safety advocate Bruce Wilson, who spent 16 years in road policing, says he’s not against speeding fine increases, but there are better tools in the ministry's arsenal.
Wilson used to write 30,000 tickets a month and said he and fellow officers used to be “abused quite heavily” and accused of "revenue gathering" by frustrated motorists.
"Personally for me, I think demerit points for speeding should increase because that's a far more effective tool for police – people need their driver’s licences."
Fines from speed cameras do not result in demerit points, an option that should be considered, Wilson said.
“I'm not picking on the trucking industry here, but at the moment they can speed and pay the fine and they might gain half an hour or an hour of productivity for doing it, so the fine actually doesn't affect them.
“I know police did look into it when I was there, but it was a big administration thing to prove who the driver was. But I think it is something to look at.”
"Implementing a system like this in New Zealand would require significant change."
Wilson said if the ministry did raise speeding fines, it could also look to Norway as a leader, where police issue fines that are proportionate to the size of the speeder's wage or salary.
This would mean younger and lower socioeconomic groups were not hit the hardest by fine increases, he said.
For what it’s worth, it doesn’t appear Te Manatū Waka wants to go down this path.
Skinner said as part of the review the ministry "may" explore options for linking fines to income.
"Many countries with systems where fines are proportional to income have different privacy and information sharing arrangements regarding income," Skinner said.
"Implementing a system like this in New Zealand would require significant change."
But the ministry does appear more open to a re-evaluation of demerit points for speeding.
Skinner said the evidence seen by the ministry indicates a mix of demerits and financial penalties were the "most effective" at disincentivising high risk behaviour on the roads.
"We want to do everything we can to reduce high risk behaviours like speeding on our roads, and as part of this we plan to consult on some changes to the demerits system."
Police Association president Chris Cahill said police had long held concerns about how fines were often the entry point to the criminal justice system for “a hell of a lot of people, especially young people”.
While the idea of raising fines, and in particular demerits, for speeding had merit, the potential effects of it needed to be considered, he said.
“But the key thing for me is that what really works is not the level of the fine, but actually the idea that you're going to be caught.”
Cahill said a Ministry of Transport report released in January had found the police were failing to deliver on the amount of road policing they need to be doing.
“And if you don't see police on the road, you're not worried about the fine because you know you're not going to get one.
“The biggest change I think we need to see is police on the road.”
Right... inflation... ??? Not sure how inflation is a factor here... but there you go money grab. While I agree that dangerous driving and excessive speeding sure fine and take their license etc.... but we all know most of the time it is just a money grab...
You will never ever get a zero accident, zero speeding, zero road toll, etc never ever... you will be continuously battling the new and younger drivers every year ... people stuck in their ways, people make mistakes. Target the excessive and deliberate speeding sure target dangerous driving yes... Most definitely targeting more on drink driving, but the rest you will not change and it is even a futile idea to think that you can... How many tourist are involved in accidents over the years that have caused accidents and made it to the news... heck, even police officers doing U-turns in-front of motorcyclists causing death...
Better driver training is needed... as the saying goes, "Stop putting the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, because it is cheaper than building the fence at the top of the cliff."
