by Thomas S.

The New Zealand Transport Agency is assuming responsibility for speed-camera enforcement from the New Zealand Police, with the transition set to be completed by mid-2025.

And given that the New Zealand Transport Agency recently published a tender for the operation of mobile cameras earlier this month, it seems that the plunder and pillaging of New Zealand motorists will be outsourced to private enforcement agencies.

The recent tender, which closes next month, is intended to “engage the market to find a long-term Mobile Safety Camera Operations provider” and seeks “suitably qualified suppliers (including joint or consortia responses) that have experience providing Mobile Safety Camera Operation services in similar markets”.

The move to privatise the operation of the government’s traffic surveillance and enforcement apparatus is part of a larger effort to upgrade and optimise the network. This network currently includes around 150 stationary speed cameras as well as 45 mobile cameras. The New Zealand Transport Agency also intends to add another 50 or so stationary cameras in the near future.

By upgrading the network, as well as broadening the scope of surveillance beyond speeding offences, the agency anticipates that it will be able to triple the number of camera-based offences from around 1 million per year to around 3 million, by the year 2030, as well as raise the number of prosecutions to around 3,300 annually.

This will be possible in part due to law changes that will permit the use of camera footage to identify offences such as drivers using cellphones, as well as passengers who may not be wearing seatbelts.

The lowering of speed limits around the country in recent years, which in many cases has been introduced as a traffic-calming initiative in order to encourage motorists to opt for alternative transportation rather than as a genuine safety measure, is also likely to generate an increase in traffic enforcement revenue.

Amongst the arsenal of the New Zealand Transport Agency’s optimised surveillance apparatus will be the Halo, which was developed by Australian-based company Redflex and which is touted as being “an all in one enforcement solution that delivers a diverse range of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) applications”.

https://youtu.be/_RRc90A0tws

The Halo’s capabilities include:

• Detection of up to 6 lanes of traffic
• Detection range of up to 150 metres
• High-resolution image capture
• High-definition 3D tracking radar
• Accurate measurement of range, angle, speed and position of vehicles
• High-definition video recording
• Red light enforcement
• Instantaneous speed enforcement
• Average speed enforcement
• Barred/closed lane enforcement
• Stop sign enforcement
• Close following (tail-gaiting)
• Civil enforcement (bus lane, grid lock, parking)
• Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR)
• Bi-directional capture
• Rail crossing
• Vehicle classification

Those familiar with the concept of Smart Cities, which are being pushed as part of the 2030 Agenda as flagship cities of the future, will no doubt recognise that the introduction of the Halo by the New Zealand Transport Agency, opens up the potential for a much larger scope of compliance in the future.

And they would be right.

The Halo is already being utilised in European cities to enforce compliance with Smart City initiatives such as low emission zones, which prohibit the movement of certain vehicles in certain areas, with both priced and unpriced enforcement measures, enabled by licence plate identification.

According to Verra Mobility, the American-based company which acquired Halo developer Redflex as a subsidiary in 2021:

“As a global leader in smart transportation, we focus on building safe and smarter communities through transportation technologies for smart cities, smart roadways and the integrated systems that tie them seamlessly together.”

Verra Mobility, which has a global presence across more than fifteen countries, is not only a leader among those offering ‘smart infrastructure’ for the implementation of the highly regulated Smart Cities of the future. They also offer a suite of professional services to complement the hardware on offer, and they have already successfully secured existing contracts for their services here in New Zealand.

Indeed, the New Zealand Transport Agency have already contracted Verra Mobility to start operating its fixed camera installations from later this year. Verra Mobility have also been assisting the New Zealand Transport Agency with the optimisation of road-tolling, which had been costing a third of revenue just to operate. Verra Mobility’s tolling upgrade includes retrofitting automated number plate recognition for highway traffic cameras.

And with a foot already in the door, these existing contracts give Verra Mobility a clear advantage for the bid at the tender for the New Zealand Transport Agency’s mobile camera operation as well.

The integration of commercial stakeholders such as Verra Mobility, which operate on a for-profit basis, into New Zealand’s model for traffic compliance, will no doubt have a flow-on effect for the government, who are already forecasting an increase in compliance revenue at the expense of New Zealand motorists.

In many ways, this public-private collusion in order to maximise fiscal exploitation at a time when road users are already struggling to afford to fill the tank, is no different than that of the privateers of centuries past, who plundered ships of adversarial nations with the sanction of their own government.

And this comparison of commercialised enforcement models to a form of legalised piracy is all the more appropriate, given the sinister nature of the Smart City concept which is at the core of this surveillance and compliance apparatus.

Indeed, Smart Cities are the literal prison fence of the New World Order, and one has only to look to China’s surveillance state and system of social credit, in order to envisage the future applications of the infrastructure being deployed by companies such as Verra Mobility.

It is far easier to tear down a prison fence, before it is built. Once this system of total surveillance and compliance is in place, it will be very difficult (although not impossible) to tear it down. But will New Zealanders rise to the occasion and do what must be done?

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