Lawyer Calls 'Speed Kills Kids' Campaign a Massive Revenue Grab.

Media Release 10 March 2014

A Christchurch lawyer, who won a court case against a $30 speed camera fine, has accused the Police of using the Speed Kills Kids campaign to disguise a massive revenue grab from law-abiding motorists.

David Small says that Police internal documents reveal that the policy they are applying to speed limits near schools is different from the one they announce to the public. He also accuses them of using inadequate signage. He claims that the end result is that Police are able to deploy speed cameras in ways that produce more than seven times the number of tickets than would normally be issued.

Dr Small says that the Adjudication Section of the Police Infringement Bureau applies a policy of strict enforcement of any fines issued as part of the Speed Kills Kids campaign. “This means that the only way to avoid paying a fine is to take them to court”, he said. “They have been counting on the fact that nobody would bother doing that for a $30 fine.”

The unfair fines total thousands of dollars per hour for every speed camera deployment, which adds up to a very significant amount of money taken unfairly from unsuspecting and law-abiding motorists.

Dr Small described the policy as “nothing short of entrapment”. He has called on the Police to refund the fines that they have gathered unfairly and to go back to the drawing board and develop a fair and properly resourced Speed Kills Kids campaign.

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