{"id":434485,"date":"2026-05-19T05:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T05:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/434485\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T05:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T05:00:14","slug":"speed-camera-removed-after-causing-traffic-to-veer-into-opposing-lane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/434485\/","title":{"rendered":"Speed camera removed after causing traffic to ‘veer’ into opposing lane"},"content":{"rendered":"

A New Zealand Transport Agency mobile speed camera trailer unit has been removed by police from State Highway 1 after forcing traffic to \u201cveer\u201d into the other lane, according to a motorist.<\/p>\n

“Didymo” Dave Cade told 1News he first noticed the unit after an officer had stopped behind it on the side of the road in Waitahanui, south of Taup\u014d, on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Cade said he asked the officer what he was doing and he responded, \u201cwell, you look at the trucks\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trucks were coming down, because it\u2019s State Highway 1, and they were veering to go around it,\u201d Cade said.<\/p>\n

“Well, you don\u2019t want trucks veering out when you\u2019ve got another one coming the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The speed camera trailer unit being taken away. (Source: Didymo Dave\/Facebook)<\/p>\n

He praised the police officer for staying behind the speed camera, \u201cprotecting the traffic\u201d until someone came to pick it up.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe saw it was dangerous, he didn\u2019t have a power or a committee meeting, or you know, five days of thinking about it. Just went \u2018that\u2019s dangerous, it\u2019s out of here’.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cade added the officer sat behind the camera for \u201cover an hour\u201d until a tow truck made its way to the scene \u2013 and it was then carted away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not against speed cameras, it was more the attitude of this\u2026 I said to him \u2018can I take some photos because this a good news story for you guys’.”<\/p>\n

‘Did not meet our expectations’<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A police vehicle parked behind the speed camera trailer unit on Saturday. (Source: Didymo Dave\/Facebook)<\/p>\n

A New Zealand Transport Agency spokesperson told 1News a mobile safety camera had been parked on SH1 at Waitahanui, Taup\u014d on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it was not parked illegally, the way it was positioned did not meet our expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are reinforcing our operating procedures and reviewing the suitability of different safety camera vehicles, including SUVs and trailers, for each site. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is to ensure they can operate safely and appropriately while addressing road safety risks in local communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mobile speed camera trailer units were first rolled out<\/a> in September 2025. <\/p>\n

Last month, 1News revealed<\/a> more than 73,000 motorists had been snapped by the units in their first six months on New Zealand roads, with the total value of fines issued exceeding $4.65 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A New Zealand Transport Agency mobile speed camera trailer unit has been removed by police from State Highway…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9001,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-434485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-hamilton-waikato","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}