Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Speed cameras operate almost 100,000 hours a year

Updated at 10:00 pm on 13 May 2012

The amount of time speed cameras are in operation has risen to almost 100,000 hours a year.

In the last financial year, mobile and fixed cameras logged 99,000 hours, up almost 8000 hours on the previous year and 27,000 more than the 2008/09 year.

In the nine months to March, more than 78,000 speed camera hours were recorded.

The increase in speed camera hours has corresponded with a rise in tickets for traffic offences, with more than 600,000 issued in 2010 and 2011.

Acting national road policing manager Inspector Rob Morgan says the hiring of more speed camera operators four years ago led to the increase in both target hours and actual operating hours.

He says target hours have been static in the past two years at 100,000.

The cost to employ the country's 73 camera operators is $3.7 million a year.

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