Better signs and driver attention the key to keeping speeding down
Drivers are being caught when speed limits drop with little warning despite trying to do the right thing, motoring lobbyists say, with new figures revealing who is most likely to get stung.
Police & Courts
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Motorists are being caught unaware by 50km/h speed zones and trapped into “accidental speeding”.
The RAA wants better signposting of the approaching zones, which it says traps thousands.
RAA spokesman Charles Mountain said the problem is identified in the large number of people caught accidentally doing between 10-19km/h over the limit.
He said most often this was caused when drivers obeying the 60km/h limit are then caught out with a sudden change to 50km/h.
“You can also see there is an issue because there is not much problem with the younger drivers because they have always had the 50km/h default speed, but if you were set in your driving ways by 2003 when it came in, you are more likely to be caught out,’’ Mr Mountain said.
“Police figures show, for each of the past five years, show the majority of speeding motorists were travelling between 10km/h and 19km/h above the limit.”
Speeding between 10km/h and 19km/h cost 108,500 motorists $69.5m in 2019, with only 74,081 being caught in the lower category of speeding, up to 9km/h over the limit.
“The relatively high numbers of these fines is a concern to us,’’ Mr Mountain said.
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“You can observe the problem most of all if you look at the figures along Prospect Rd and Goodwood Rd, when before and after peak hour the roads serve the function of servicing local shops, so they have to be 50km/h.
“Where we see better signposting there is a reduction in these sort of offences, because these people do not intentionally set out to speed or get caught.”
A Transport Department spokesman said it was trialling on country roads new signs which state “remember 50km/h” which would make them stand out from usual speeding signs.
Despite much lower traffic volumes than many other roads Goodwood Rd, 2920 fines, and Prospect Rd, 2677 fines, were the third and fourth worst locations for traffic offences in 2019, behind only the South Eastern Freeway at Leawood Gardens, 7316 fines, and at Crafers, 3101 fines.