M.O.T. plans big blitz at Christmas

Press, 12 August 1985, Page 22

M.O.T. plans big blitz at Christmas

PA Wellington The Ministry of Transport has begun preparing what promises to be the strictest Christmas-New Year holiday road safety campaign. Ministry and private charter aircraft, unmarked patrol cars, and every available traffic officer would be used against the speeding and drunken driver, said Assistant chief Traffic Officer Henry Gore.

Mr Gore said there would be the usual emphasis on random stopping and breath-testing which proved successful in previous years. Mounted microwave radar speed detectors would be used on unmarked patrol cars, and special Australian designed “digitectors” would be imported for the period. Digitectors are magnetic loops hidden beneath the road’s surface or in tubes laid across the road. They are undetected on microwave and have been found 75 per cent more effective than existing microwave radar.

Aircraft will be used to time vehicles passing between two points and the speeds relayed to officers on the ground. Both private and Ministry aircraft will be used. Mr Gore said such measures were necessary in light of the increased open road speed limit, and the horrific holiday death toll in recent years. However, motorists would get fair warning from the Ministry before the safety campaign began in midDecember. A news media campaign before the holiday would warn drivers of the risk, the penalties for speeding, and driving with an excees blood-alcohol level.

If legislation before Parliament to double speeding penalties is passed, drivers will face hefty fines.

The changes would raise the maximum speeding fine imposed by the courts from 3200 to 3400. The maximum “instant fine” would rise from 3100 to 3200 for motorists more than 40km/h above the limit.