VIDEO - New speed cameras set for Kaitāia-Awaroa Road
To keep communities safe and encourage people to make safe driving choices, Far North District Council and New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) are working together on a new strategy for using speed cameras in Ahipara.
Four ‘average speed’ safety cameras will be installed along Kaitāia-Awaroa Road to assess the average speed vehicles are travelling. The cameras will be placed at four different locations along the approximately 11km stretch of road, including near Sandhills Road at Ahipara and at the Kaitāia end near the 80km/h speed limit sign.
Between 2018 and 2023, two people were killed and another 13 were seriously injured on this stretch of road. A speed survey conducted by NZTA in May 2024 found that the average speed on this road was 89km/h, with around 75 per cent of vehicles exceeding the limit.
Unlike traditional speed cameras that record a vehicle’s speed at the moment it passes the camera, the new average speed cameras work by calculating a vehicle’s speed along the length of road between two or more cameras.
They measure the time the vehicle takes to travel between the cameras and calculate the average speed (distance divided by time). Drivers are only ticketed if their average travel speed over the entire distance between the cameras is over the limit – they aren’t ‘pinged’ by a single camera or at a single point over the speed limit.
NZTA and the council are urging drivers to respect speed limits and drive safely, emphasising that the cameras are being introduced to protect the community, not to penalise drivers unnecessarily.
Preparations for the installation will begin in the next couple of months, however, the poles and cameras will not be installed until later this year.
More information about the project can be found here: Average speed camera construction on Kaitāia-Awaroa Road | Far North District Council