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Source: NZPA / Ross Setford -
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Police chiefs are red-faced after admitting their new multi-million dollar speed cameras have a serious glitch.
They have had to cancel dozens of tickets after the cameras showed motorists were driving up to twice as fast as they actually were.
William Geddes drives a Hutt Valley flyer bus and has done for years.
Most days Geddes carries shoppers and school children down busy Randwick Road. He's a safe driver, keeps his eyes on the road and sticks to the speed limit.
"Safety first, safety second, and safety third, mate," he says.
In fact, in over six years he has never had a speeding ticket, until a few weeks ago.
"I was astounded, because I have a clean record and I was hoping to keep it that way until I retire in a couple of years' time," he says.
Geddes was sure he hadn't been speeding but the camera photo said he had been doing 58 in a 50k area. And the camera doesn't lie, does it?
This time it seems it had.
A day or two later one of Geddes' fellow drivers also got a ticket, showing he had been doing over a hundred k's down Randwick Road.
And there's one big problem with that.
"The old buses we've been driving can only get to 75k max," says Geddes.
He and his mate complained to police who wrote back admitting their new mobile digital cameras have a fault, causing them to misread the speed of large vehicles.
On rare occasions, they can re-reflect the radar beam in such a way to generate a double-reading.
Police have cancelled Geddes' ticket, but there have been more cases, in fact 133, says
Inspector Peter McKay, acting national manager of road policing.
Forty three of the cameras have been bought to replace the old film ones at a cost of around $4 million.
Police say they are working to fix the problem.
But in the meantime they are not proceeding with any infringements for any large-sided vehicles, says McKay.
And that means for now truckies and bus drivers can speed past a mobile camera scot-free. Not that William Geddes ever would.
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