Enforcement of 40km/h zones in residential areas has ramped up through police patrols and speed camera use, with Sumner one of the suburbs featuring prominently among Christchurch's top-five locations for traffic infringements over a three-year period. 

Police data from 2019 to 2021 revealed Nayland and Colenso Sts rank second and fourth respectively, while Te Korari St in Marshland leads the standings. 

During that time frame the number of tickets issued for speeding in the vicinity of a school has increased, although not as significantly as the incidences of speeding detected on suburban streets. 

There were 188 speeding tickets issued in the vicinity of schools in 2019, followed by 201 in 2020 and 241 last year. 

The number of tickets issued after speeding was detected by mobile speed cameras has increased markedly from 224 in 2019 to 1181 last year. 

The other top-five streets are Halswell's Richmond Ave and Murphys Rd. 

Halswell was the most likely place for speeding motorists to receive an officer-issued ticket with 115, ahead of Papanui (87) and Wigram (48). 

It comes as the Christchurch City Council is installing red-light safety cameras at two "high risk" intersections: Manchester St/Pilgrim Pl/Moorhouse Ave and Gasson St/Madras St/Moorhouse Ave. 

The cameras will be the first implemented in the South Island to issue tickets and will be operational from next Thursday. 

Car crashes 

Over the last five-year period to December 31, 2021, there had been two serious injury crashes, six minor and 20 in total within 50-metres of the Gasson/Madras/Moorhouse intersection. 

At Manchester/Pilgrim/Moorhouse there were 14 crashes, including two that included minor injuries. 

Red-light safety cameras have been used in Auckland since 2014 while one is operational in Wellington. 

There is already a red light camera monitoring the intersection of Bealey Ave and Madras St but it is only used to collect data, not to detect red-light runners. 

Motorists risk a fine of $150. 

"Road safety is everyone's responsibility and the consequences of running a red light can be deadly," said city council transport operations manager Stephen Wright. 

The cameras were welcomed by National Road Policing Centre Superintendent Steve Greally. 

"Our officers work hard every day trying to stop risky driver behaviour, this includes people running red lights. Drivers need to remember that the decisions they make impact not only them and their passengers, but everyone else on the road," he said. 

The city council said research from Monash University's Accident Research Centre in Melbourne, Australia estimated a 26 per cent decrease in overall crashes at intersections with red light cameras. 

The top five Christchurch streets for camera-issued speeding infringements in a 40km/h zone from 2019-2021: 

Te Korari St (Marshland) – 821 

Nayland St (Sumner) – 760 

Richmond Ave (Halswell) – 508 

Colenso St (Sumner) – 298 

Murphys Rd (Halswell) – 185 

- Star News