Hamish Piercy: Motor vehicle crash investigator on secret cameras recording drivers using phones

Cameras hidden around Auckland by a government agency have recorded the better part of 1000 drivers per day unlawfully using their phones behind the wheel, the Herald can reveal. The cameras were installed at three secret spots by Waka Kotahi (NZ Transport Agency) as part of a six-month safety trial. Police are not involved in the trial and the findings will not lead to enforcement action or warning letters, the agency said. The findings for the first weeks of the trial, obtained by the Herald under the Official Information Act, revealed the shocking extent of illegal phone use - including texting - while driving in the Super City. Last year, the total number of infringement notices issued by police for illegal use of mobile phones while driving was 40,976 nationally. But the Waka Kotahi trial data shows there were 44,358 mobile phone use offences detected from May 24 to July 16 this year in Auckland alone, from a total of 3,662,024 vehicles travelling past the camera sites. That works out as an average of 836 per day or 1.2 per cent of all cars. A subsequent statement from Waka Kotahi following the Official Information release said a total of 50,333 "potential mobile phone use offences" were detected in the first two months, representing 1.14 per cent of the 4.4 million vehicles that travelled past the cameras. On July 23, a function of the cameras allowing them to detect people not wearing seat belts was switched on. Initial seat belt data will be available next month, the statement said. Waka Kotahi land transport director Kane Patena said the purpose of the trial was both to test the camera technology to ensure it was capable and to understand the scale of illegal phone use and seatbelt violations. "We know that driver distraction is a contributing factor in nearly 8 per cent of all crashes where someone is killed, and approximately 90 people a year are killed on our roads because they didn't wear a seatbelt," he said. "However, the scale of actual distracted driving and seatbelt non-compliance, in general, is mostly anecdotal." Patena said officials would undertake a full analysis at the end of the six-month trial. "We are only two months into the trial, and no detailed analysis has been completed on the raw data. Decisions on the future use of this technology will be made following the completion of the trial and a detailed analysis of the results." The statement from Waka Kotahi said that to protect people's privacy, drivers' and passengers' faces are not included in any stored image and number plates are automatically blurred. Images, where no phone or seat belt offence is captured, are deleted "within minutes", the statement said. Pictures showing an office are deleted within two days, Waka Kotahi said. AA motoring affairs policy director Martin Glynn said the rate of texting drivers caught by the cameras still seemed low given the number of cars that passed the sites. Glynn said the AA supported bigger fines for texting drivers as a way to improve safety on the roads. In New Zealand, the penalty for using your phone behind the wheel is $150 and 20 demerit points. "They're very, very low by international standards," Glynn said. In Queensland, drivers can be fined $1078 AUD. Statistics released last month show deaths on New Zealand's roads are set to rise again. The past two years saw lower tolls largely thought to be due to Covid-19 restrictions. The figures, which were released alongside the Road to Zero Annual Monitoring Report 2021, showed the number of people dying on our roads is currently on track to be about 350-360. According to the Ministry of Transport website, the provisional death toll as of yesterday stands at 225. The total death toll on our roads in 2019 was 352. In 2019, the Government proposed its new road safety strategy called Road to Zero, with the aim of cutting road deaths by 40 per cent during the next decade. It followed Sweden's Vision Zero strategy which seeks to eliminate road deaths. - George Block, NZ HeraldSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.