This from Stuff today:
Cops bust 40 crossing line in the Gorge
01 November 2006
By EVAN HARDING
Police have rejected claims of revenue gathering after busting 40 motorists crossing the centre line in the Manawatu Gorge in just six hours, resulting in $150 fines for each offender.
Traffic officers with cameras were stationed above a corner in the Gorge to take photos of vehicles crossing the centre line, which has double yellow lines from end to end that should not be breached.
"To be honest, we were shocked at the number of people with no regard for double yellow lines," Central Districts Highway Patrol Acting Senior Sergeant Willie Roy said.
"Double yellow lines are there because it's a dangerous piece of road, yet car after car and truck after truck kept doing it (crossing the centre line)."
However, a letter to the Manawatu Standard from a motorist stung with a fine during the blitz said police were simply revenue gathering.
JC Gardiner said police had put the camera above a corner in the Gorge that the largest number of ordinary drivers are likely to cut "the one that shouldn't have a yellow line in the first place because the visibility is perfect", the letter said.
"I bet they make a fortune from operations like this.
"I once gave police the benefit of the doubt when they said traffic safety enforcement was not about revenue gathering. Now I know they lie."
Mr Roy said allegations of revenue gathering are "boring" and motorists are fined because they break road rules.
He was unsure which corner the camera had been stationed above. "We would have taken it from that corner because that corner is a problem."
Mr Roy said that there have been at least 50 accidents in the Manawatu Gorge in the past two years.
Police stationed an officer with a camera in the Gorge hills for about two hours at a time on September 18, 19 and 26 after they had received daily calls from motorists complaining about bad driving in the Gorge.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThey clicked 40 crossing the centre line, some with the whole vehicle on the wrong side of the road, he said.
He said motorists should expect another blitz.
Central Districts acting road policing manager Nick Dobson said an opportunity was taken to install the double yellow lines in the Gorge when major slips from flooding closed the road in 2004.
The lines were installed to slow traffic down, keep traffic on the correct side of the road and prevent accidents, Mr Dobson said.
"It's not a good place to overtake and it's also a place that attracts people to try out their perceived motor-racing skills.
"It's a great place to have double yellow lines."
Police use cameras in the hills because it is a difficult stretch of road for patrol cars to police due to its winding and narrow nature, he said.
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Originally Posted by Beemer
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