A paper came across my desk recently. In the paper, it said NZTA is talking about installing speed cameras in Northland. Is this due to the fact that Northlanders speed excessively or is it just more revenue gathering by NZTA?

The paper highlights several possible sites to install speed cameras on Northland’s highways, however most of these sites have either corners or passing lanes. What immediately comes to mind is that NZTA have chosen high fatality sites, however they haven't really looked at what might be the main cause of the accidents. Speed kills, yes, but more often when combined with wind, rain and potholes.

There will be a total of 200 sites including many new Northland sites this year. 

In my view if cameras were to be installed in Whangarei, then the number one place for it should be around the SH1 and 14 intersections or the SH1 and Central Road intersections. They cameras installed should be red light cameras – not speed cameras.

There is an unusually high number of near misses or heavy trucks driving through red lights at these intersections. One house renter in the area said he watches and cringes every time a truck drives through those main lights, as they don't have any intention of stopping some times.

Now I'm not saying that speeding or the deaths on our roads aren’t important. Moreover, I believe we need to look at the whole transport issue in Northland, and how we transport goods from one place to another. By focusing on taking photos of speeders, we may in fact miss all the other issues with the road. Perhaps an area with a lot of crashes is a badly designed piece of road and better maintenance and construction would prevent crashes.

Something missing from NZTA’s dim view of Northland road safety is the effect of logging trucks. Yes it’s important that logging trucks serve as a link between our invaluable forestry asset and exports from Northport, but if logging trucks are causing potholes by hurting our road surface, and if those potholes are causing a disproportionate number of car accidents, these factors can’t be ignored.

Roading is something we all see and travel on everyday so let’s look at what we are doing, and how each of us is driving. Dropping your speed by 5km/hr won't make you late, and it might save your life or someone else's.