Auckland's worst serial killer has claimed nine lives in five years?and you may be as guilty as anyone in the city, reports Lauren Mentjox
Auckland City Council statistics show that failing to give way at intersections ? or, in most cases, running a red light ? is one of the leading causes of crashes in Auckland. Up to 255 people are killed or injured each year. One in every four accidents involves a pedestrian. Auckland City Council senior road safety coordinator Claire Dixon says running red lights is a big issue in the city. She says the council runs road safety campaigns every year to try to raise awareness, but concedes it is a hard issue to address. In January, the council ran the campaign, Red Means Stop: end of ''bloody'' story, with the police and the Accident Compensation Corporation plus support from Transit. In June, it ran the two-week Street Smart campaign, aimed at pedestrians and motorists, to reduce crashes on Queen St. In the past five years, 180 pedestrians have been injured on Queen St and there have been 38 injury crashes because of motorists running red lights at 11 inner city intersections. Ms Dixon says it is probably too early to say whether the campaigns have had an impact on crash reduction. An unofficial survey by The Aucklander found it common for motorists?and pedestrians?to disregard traffic lights in the CBD.
Buses and taxis were high on the list of common offenders. Hobson community board member Julie Chambers says something needs to be done to address road safety across the city. She saw two cars and two buses run red lights in half an hour on Remuera Rd after local business owners told her of their concern about the issue. ''It's a dangerous practice and I think the most vulnerable are pedestrians,'' she says. Mrs Chambers says there needs to be an Auckland-wide approach to people in suburban centres to become involved if they have road safety concerns. Auckland City Council traffic safety manager Karen Hay says the repercussions of failing to stop are really serious. She says the council is working with the police and the Auckland Regional Transport Authority to bring back red light cameras. The cameras were turned off about five years ago because they were too expensive to run. Ms Hay says the issue will be discussed at the council's transport and linkages committee in September. The regional transport body has done significant market research into the project, which will have fixed cameras installed at 11 high risk intersections in the CBD. Mobile police units will also be used in the new enforcement regime. Its board meeting report from May states projects to implement cameras overseas have resulted in a 30 per cent reduction in crashes. It goes on to say this equates to ''a saving of $650,000 a year through reduced hospital and other crash-related costs at the 11 targeted intersections alone''. Andy Smith, chairman of Walk Auckland, an advocacy group for pedestrians, says the move to bring back cameras is fantastic. ''Unfortunately, people have to be scared into driving normally again,'' he says, although he prefers a system in which people are publicly shamed because monetary penalties are not enough of a disincentive. ''People have become arrogant and ignorant. We are dealing with a super class of people who have no consideration for their fellow citizens.'' Mr Smith recently placed community police roadwatch forms at the Three Lamps intersection in Ponsonby to try to empower people to report bad driving. So far, he says it is having a good effect. ''It's the only feedback we have.
