NZ Police: Safety or $$$ (A little fuel to the fire)

[Macstar]

Some of my KB friends have been complaining recently of traffic infringements. Got me wondering if there was any truth to the claims about the NZ Police being over zealous on issuing fines. Check this out:

10 minute fact finding mission revealed the following from Statistics NZ & NZ Police (you can verify all data yourself if you like at the abovementioned organisation's official websites:

*In the last 12 months there have been 408 deaths on NZ roads, Police want to reduce this to 300.
*The instances of Police recorded speed camera offences (classified seperately to Traffic Offenses / infringements) have increased marginally from 363,578 in 1996/7 to 394,585 in 2005/6.
*The number of traffic offenses / infringements have increased from 513,563 to 1,064,489 in the same period.
*In 2004/5, (12 month period) a total of 1.6 million traffic infringements were issued (speed cameras and cop issued). If you consider that around 60% of Kiwis drive vehicles on the road (underage and old geezers), that means about 6-7 of every 10 NZ drivers received a traffic fine that year.
*I was not able to find specific then / now costings of actual traffic infrinegments, but we all know these have also increased.
*NZ Police do not differentiate the revenue from traffic infringements in their annual financial statements but if we multiple 1.6 million fines by $100 that’s 160 million $$$$, beef that average fine up to $150 and that equals 240 million $$$.
*The entire NZ Police force needs about 1 billion a year to operate.
*Depending on what figure you place on the average traffic infringement fine, up to one quarter of the necessary money needed to run the Police can be generated through traffic fines alone…

So to keep road deaths at 408 a year, the public i.e. you and I on top of road user chargers, petrol taxes and income taxes pay up to 250 million per year from our own pockets.

In comparison, cardiovascular disease kills 10,500 people per year in NZ and costs an estimated 500 mill annually, but apart from the GST paid on KFC and junk food there is no direct taxes or public health service charges for this problem. Oh, and a significant amount of the deaths are in people under 65….

So, argue traffic infringements are necessary public safety measure and I’d tell you to do something about all the fat unhealthy people in our country – the real national killer and cost creator.

Argue, traffic infringements are not viewed as a revenue collecting exercise, and I’d ask well why then does up to a quarter of the NZ Police’s total necessary operating budget come from traffic infringements?

Argue that traffic infringements are issued at a reasonable rate i.e. not excessive, no quotas, and I’d ask you how could 1.6 million be issued to a population of just over 4 million of which maybe 60% drive vehicles…

Anyway, just my two cents.

[Gareth123]

The way I see things is thus...If I get pulled over in a 50 zone for doing 61 I deserve a ticket because I was speeding. If a bastard cop pulls me over for doing 56 in a 50 zone then yes he's a prick but i still deserve a ticket because i was speeding.

At the end of the day we ALL know what the speed limits are. If we get caught going too fast then we should grow a stiff upper lip and live with it. Who cares if it the cops are revenue gathering? To get a ticket you have to have been speeding in the first place.

What would happen if the police announced that they were going to scrap the 10km/h tolerance?

[jimbo600]

But mate, all the accidents are happening at 111kmh! Thats what the tv ads tell us.

Yep, its about the moolah alright. Same as UK and Aussie. Thats why HP hang around spots where ordinary pay easy Joe is going to get pinged and not at accident blackspots. But hey, at least quotas keep them off the back roads.

Shit if they were really interested in lowering the road toll they'd do something about the standard of driving, but that would be costly and not boost govt coffers

[Ewan Oozarmy]

Shit if they were really interested in lowering the road toll they'd do something about the standard of driving, but that would be costly and not boost govt coffers

Spot f*ckin' on!

[kiwifruit]

100km/h is crazy fast, i say reduce the open road limit to 80

[Mr Merde]

Bring back the man with the RED FLAG

[Kickaha]

100km/h is crazy fast, i say reduce the open road limit to 80

I can remember when it was 80kmh, be careful what you ask for

[Hitcher]

As I have said before, the credibility of the NZ Police has been sacrificed on the altar of revenue generation.

[peasea]

Bring back the man with the RED FLAG

Don't speak too loudly..........

We all know the score and the cops can deny it until they're blue (pun intended) in the face. Performance expectations, quotas, call it what you will but the government budgets on the income, it's a fact.

The whole thing is a game of cat and mouse and I don't envy the cops for having to reap this cash crop; after all, the public's respect for them has dwindled to an all-time low over recent years so very few decent people take up the job. Good cops are a minority group. Money grabbers, sex offenders, liars and bullies seem to be what makes up the front line these days.

[marty]

for some reason everyone thinks the cop on the street gives a toss about how much the $$$ value is worth on tickets they write. one of the guys who worked for me regularly (and still does) write 35-40 tickets a day, in a 7 hour patrol period, figure out how much time he averaged at each stop. on a section of 5 staff, each writing between 20 and 40 tickets each, i could never believe just how many people were either too stupid or too thick to either aviod being caught, or not offend in the first place.

all i (and my boss) cared about was contacts - how many vehicle stops in a day. $$$ never came into it.

in fact, i recommended that the editor of a major NZ auto magazine was let off a $5000 RUC fine, and this was supported by the bureau

[Boob Johnson]

They are 100% revenue collecting, this government has gotton FAR to greedy with the public purse. I recently got nailed for not wearing my seat belt. The cop listened to my excuse (a genuine one of I only just pulled out of the servo around the corner) which was true. I also said I always wear a seat belt (again which is true) but was elsewhere (mentally) when leaving the servo and he actually apologised to me saying that his boss had told him (who was standing not far away) that it's 100% ticket writing, no excuses & that he would of let me off had he not been there.


I know who ill be voting for next election

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

They are 100% revenue collecting,

don't pay it... Argue you are your own soveriegn power...

argue freedom of choice... "you are the one that that gets injuired not them or any one else for not wearing a seat belt..."

either just follow the sheep heard...

[Katman]

but was elsewhere (mentally) when leaving the servo

Happen often when you're behind the wheel, does it?

[Boob Johnson]

Happen often when you're behind the wheel, does it?

Na was just thinking (indepth) about what I was about to be doing.

[Macstar]

for some reason everyone thinks the cop on the street gives a toss about how much the $$$ value is worth on tickets they write. one of the guys who worked for me regularly (and still does) write 35-40 tickets a day, in a 7 hour patrol period, figure out how much time he averaged at each stop. on a section of 5 staff, each writing between 20 and 40 tickets each, i could never believe just how many people were either too stupid or too thick to either aviod being caught, or not offend in the first place.

all i (and my boss) cared about was contacts - how many vehicle stops in a day. $$$ never came into it.

in fact, i recommended that the editor of a major NZ auto magazine was let off a $5000 RUC fine, and this was supported by the bureau

No disrespect, I appreciate the front line staff are merely doing their jobs and may not care about the $$ (especially since it doesn't go directly to them, or the Police dept for that matter), but that's beside the point here. Do you think Kiwis are more criminally-inclined than other nationalities i.e. do we break more traffic laws than other people around the world?

Although my stats were crude (10 mins worth), they indicate that the majority of NZers are traffic criminals (6-7/10). Does that mean 6-7/10 Kiwis are also commiting real crimes i.e. burglary, rape, assult etc?

So, either the traffic laws are not practical, or NZers are abnormally unlawful in their vehicles...

In any case, the day 7/10ths of the population become law-breakers means something has gone really really wrong.