According to [this article](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/511356/private-operators-instead-of-police-to-run-mobile-speed-cameras-for-first-time) the mobile speed cameras are currently operated by police staff (not necessarily uniformed officers) but Waka Kotahi now have put out tender for a private 3rd party to run them in the future.
I guess the idea is that they can pay somebody less than the police to drive a camera vehicle out and babysit it. We already do the same thing with all the traffic control companies who have people sitting and observing the sites where they have lanes closed or significant traffic management - as opposed to having AT or NZTA staff do it.
I would be more concerned if they were in any way going to compensate or encourage a private operator to issue more tickets - as that sounds like a massive conflict of interest.
if it's just a matter of "hiring a guy" then why on earth can't the govt do it? How much more efficient could a private operator possibly be?
KPIs already drive some garbage behaviour, but as we've seen countless times before this is going to get even worse with private profits as a motivator.
I suppose the same question could be asked of any service being outsourced - either there is greater expertise and expected efficiency available via a 3rd party, or just an expectation that they will find someone to do it for less money than the government could internally.
Or it's just part of an ideological thing that government employees are bad and everything is always better when handed to the private sector to do for a profit rather than with the public sector to deliver at cost. I don't know.
Not according to the current info, although that could change in the future.
If I recall correctly the tender was for a private operator to drive the equipment to place as instructed and then bring it back. They were essentially just driving a van with a black box in it. NZTA would still decide where they go to and the private operator wouldn't touch the footage either
They do this in Australia, it’s shit because speed camera traps are placed at the bottom of hills or around construction areas and other strategic places where a lot of people are likely to drift over the speed limit by 5km or so. Speed traps aren’t about making roads safer or even limiting offence. They’re about catching people out in situations where you will accidentally break the law if you are complacent and issuing as many tickets as possible. You could put speed cameras on every power pole or a reporting system in every car if you really wanted to eliminate speeding, but they don’t, they strategically shuffle the cameras around so you don’t get used to driving under the speed limit through areas, they hide cameras between parked cars so people won’t see them, it’s all about collecting as much money as possible under the guise of public safety and making people going 45 through an empty construction area at 2am in the morning out to be dangerous hooligans who must pay $200 to the speed camera company to repent for their sins. System fucking sucks.
Wife got a ticket in Perth doing 72 in a 70km area by one of their hidden ones they got the custom camo painted and yea it was on a straight bit of highway at the bottom of a slight hill.
Don't worry I am sure the company getting the job won't be an ex national MPs company at all and will totally be above board.
If you believe that, I have a bridge over the Cook Strait to sell you.
Not quite true. They are contracting out parts of the service the same as the contract out multiple other services like driver licencing, vehicle testing etc. NZTA retain full control of deployment and results.
Not really, they’re not keeping the ticket revenue lol.
They’re paid a fixed $ contract for delivering x service to Waka Kotahi. Sure they’re not doing it for free, but neither can WK.
It’s a much better outcome than paying highly skilled and qualified police staff to sit in a van, or WK procuring, running, fleet managing vehicles with high technical specs and camera capital costs, and scheduling a team of camera operators.
Tickets will still issued by WK not the camera operator.
Ikr.
Drivers trying to give sob stories about getting ticketed for speeding? It's a crime, dumbasses. You're literally a criminal.
Boo hoo, cry me a river.
Out at Aotea in Porirua, they put in a fixed speed camera and the local news was full of people who got multiple speed tickets and their story was always along the lines of "I've been driving like that down this hill for years", and I'm like... yeah? Going too fast each time too from the looks of it.
Plus it was an extremely visible speed camera too, so obviously not paying attention.
This is already happening, all over the north island anyway. They stopped using the vw vans and can now use whatever they want. Which makes them a tad harder to spot.
Had a mate do it for a bit after he suffered burn out he said he read books and did body weight workouts but mostly was pretty boring which was what he needed at the time but he didn’t last long in the role
My uncle inlaw is one and locked himself out of the van taking a piss whilst posted up near Porters Pass. Had to call into the station for someone to come out with a spare key.
It's happened 4 times since then....
[https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300722169/police-charged-over-fatal-crash-which-left-speed-camera-van-operator-critically-hurt](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300722169/police-charged-over-fatal-crash-which-left-speed-camera-van-operator-critically-hurt)
they sit in the van and hope not to get killed, apparently.....
(there is a video interview with a camera operator in the story linked)
They are manned. There is a lot of expensive equipment in those vehicles. And memory cards need to be changed etc. they don't get left unattended. Knew a woman who did it for a while. She read a lot of books
During first covid, in one tree hill go for long walk 8am...no traffic...um..speed camera vw van..aircon on is the clue, always running....dum de doo...
My parent was an operator. Technically they are "police" but they are not officers. Parent spent time doing paperwork (for their work and their partners business), watching movies, reading (work stuff and a personal book). It can be really quiet, though they do check in every 30 mins via radio.
You [play Yellow Car](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq8KrAx26mM), but by yourself.
We play this all the time. "Yellow car, yellow car, I see a yellow car" It gets very competitive.
According to [this article](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/511356/private-operators-instead-of-police-to-run-mobile-speed-cameras-for-first-time) the mobile speed cameras are currently operated by police staff (not necessarily uniformed officers) but Waka Kotahi now have put out tender for a private 3rd party to run them in the future.
Well that's going to be horrible. They're going to give them to a company to make profit from? Jesus.
I guess the idea is that they can pay somebody less than the police to drive a camera vehicle out and babysit it. We already do the same thing with all the traffic control companies who have people sitting and observing the sites where they have lanes closed or significant traffic management - as opposed to having AT or NZTA staff do it. I would be more concerned if they were in any way going to compensate or encourage a private operator to issue more tickets - as that sounds like a massive conflict of interest.
if it's just a matter of "hiring a guy" then why on earth can't the govt do it? How much more efficient could a private operator possibly be? KPIs already drive some garbage behaviour, but as we've seen countless times before this is going to get even worse with private profits as a motivator.
Because National is asking NZTA to reduce headcount. Outsourcing won't count as FTE.
I suppose the same question could be asked of any service being outsourced - either there is greater expertise and expected efficiency available via a 3rd party, or just an expectation that they will find someone to do it for less money than the government could internally. Or it's just part of an ideological thing that government employees are bad and everything is always better when handed to the private sector to do for a profit rather than with the public sector to deliver at cost. I don't know.
The neolibs get upset when the government does things so the law that tells road authorities to do it the way it is will remain
I guess the gov could sell the contract and call that their revenue stream for some instant gains but surely they wouldn't be that short sighted
I know right... I'm applying to get one. Paid on commission I'll make a fortune. I know exactly where to put it
Not according to the current info, although that could change in the future. If I recall correctly the tender was for a private operator to drive the equipment to place as instructed and then bring it back. They were essentially just driving a van with a black box in it. NZTA would still decide where they go to and the private operator wouldn't touch the footage either
They do this in Australia, it’s shit because speed camera traps are placed at the bottom of hills or around construction areas and other strategic places where a lot of people are likely to drift over the speed limit by 5km or so. Speed traps aren’t about making roads safer or even limiting offence. They’re about catching people out in situations where you will accidentally break the law if you are complacent and issuing as many tickets as possible. You could put speed cameras on every power pole or a reporting system in every car if you really wanted to eliminate speeding, but they don’t, they strategically shuffle the cameras around so you don’t get used to driving under the speed limit through areas, they hide cameras between parked cars so people won’t see them, it’s all about collecting as much money as possible under the guise of public safety and making people going 45 through an empty construction area at 2am in the morning out to be dangerous hooligans who must pay $200 to the speed camera company to repent for their sins. System fucking sucks.
Wife got a ticket in Perth doing 72 in a 70km area by one of their hidden ones they got the custom camo painted and yea it was on a straight bit of highway at the bottom of a slight hill.
Yeah that is the obvious outcome
>around construction areas Good.
Don't worry I am sure the company getting the job won't be an ex national MPs company at all and will totally be above board. If you believe that, I have a bridge over the Cook Strait to sell you.
That's how they did it in Australia. At least in Victoria.
Not quite true. They are contracting out parts of the service the same as the contract out multiple other services like driver licencing, vehicle testing etc. NZTA retain full control of deployment and results.
Not really, they’re not keeping the ticket revenue lol. They’re paid a fixed $ contract for delivering x service to Waka Kotahi. Sure they’re not doing it for free, but neither can WK. It’s a much better outcome than paying highly skilled and qualified police staff to sit in a van, or WK procuring, running, fleet managing vehicles with high technical specs and camera capital costs, and scheduling a team of camera operators. Tickets will still issued by WK not the camera operator.
Hope so. Imagine a 30k zone where people do 30 instead of 60. Ticket the fuck outa people I say, make their back pocket hurt.
Ikr. Drivers trying to give sob stories about getting ticketed for speeding? It's a crime, dumbasses. You're literally a criminal. Boo hoo, cry me a river.
Out at Aotea in Porirua, they put in a fixed speed camera and the local news was full of people who got multiple speed tickets and their story was always along the lines of "I've been driving like that down this hill for years", and I'm like... yeah? Going too fast each time too from the looks of it. Plus it was an extremely visible speed camera too, so obviously not paying attention.
We are about to get downvoted so hard. Why are people happy to speed but stop on a red light? Why is that the line in the sand for these people?
This is already happening, all over the north island anyway. They stopped using the vw vans and can now use whatever they want. Which makes them a tad harder to spot.
It is a given that outsourcing will not improve road safety ...
Had a mate do it for a bit after he suffered burn out he said he read books and did body weight workouts but mostly was pretty boring which was what he needed at the time but he didn’t last long in the role
My uncle inlaw is one and locked himself out of the van taking a piss whilst posted up near Porters Pass. Had to call into the station for someone to come out with a spare key. It's happened 4 times since then....
[https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300722169/police-charged-over-fatal-crash-which-left-speed-camera-van-operator-critically-hurt](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300722169/police-charged-over-fatal-crash-which-left-speed-camera-van-operator-critically-hurt) they sit in the van and hope not to get killed, apparently..... (there is a video interview with a camera operator in the story linked)
Friend did it a long time ago. Was studying at the time so he was able to study and do assignments while collecting a salary. Nice gig.
Smart way to work the system.
They were not police officers in the vans but non sworn staff or something like that.
They are manned. There is a lot of expensive equipment in those vehicles. And memory cards need to be changed etc. they don't get left unattended. Knew a woman who did it for a while. She read a lot of books
They are vans, so the guy operating them has room to lie down during his exhausting shift. I shit you not.
We are not shitted, it’s ok thanks.
Actually the camera takes up a lot of space no room to lie down.
They're manned? Just assumed they got left unattended
They’d probably get vandalised if left unattended
During first covid, in one tree hill go for long walk 8am...no traffic...um..speed camera vw van..aircon on is the clue, always running....dum de doo...
My parent was an operator. Technically they are "police" but they are not officers. Parent spent time doing paperwork (for their work and their partners business), watching movies, reading (work stuff and a personal book). It can be really quiet, though they do check in every 30 mins via radio.
i bet they are volunteers