Land Transport NZ is now
part of the NZ Transport Agency
www.nzta.govt.nz
Accessibility | Help | Site index | Contact us
NLTP - National Land Transport Programme
Regional and nationwide programmes | June 2008
The road policing programme (RPP) for 2008/09
« Return to NLTP 2008 table of contents
Overview
The 2008/09 NLTP includes the Road Policing Programme (RPP) which is the annual programme of land transport enforcement activities delivered by NZ Police. The 2008/09 RPP is funded from the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF) at a level of $272.840 million, and a provision for the NZ Police wage and salary agreement for the 2008/09 year will be approved once negotiations are complete.
The RPP for 2008/09 has been prepared by Land Transport NZ and approved by the Minister of Transport in accordance with the Land Transport Management Act. A package of new initiatives focusing on road safety for the 2008/09 year targets specific performance enhancements which improve the Police’s ability to address driver behaviours and specific locations which are demonstrating high social cost caused by crashes in comparison with the policing resources available in those areas. The initiatives are aligned with the Road Safety to 2010 Strategy, in particular speed and drink-driving enforcement. Further detail, including NZ Police FTE allocations to local authorities or to clusters of local authorities is contained in the regional tables contained in this 2008/09 NLTP. In addition, full RPP can be viewed at http://www.police.govt.nz/resources.
The inclusion of the RPP in the NLTP integrates the planning and funding of road policing or enforcement, with education and engineering, as well as with other NLTP activities.
Road Policing Programme strategic context
The RPP has been developed in order to support the achievement of the New Zealand Transport Strategy (NZTS), particularly through its contribution to the goals of the government’s Road Safety to 2010 Strategy.
In preparing the RPP, Land Transport NZ took into account the NZTS and LTMA objectives for land transport, the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy, regional land transport strategies and the Road Safety to 2010 Strategy in which the government’s road safety goals for New Zealand are to reduce the number of road deaths to no more than 300 per year and hospitalisations to no more than 4,500 per year by 2010. Road deaths in 2007 totalled 423 and hospitalisations totalled 7,420.
The RPP focus is predominantly road safety. But by addressing road safety directly, NZ Police indirectly address the wider outcomes of these strategies. When people feel safe they are more likely to use the land transport system and be mobile on foot and by cycle as well as by vehicle, thereby contributing to the access and mobility, public health and environmental objectives. Fewer deaths and injuries in the health system have a notable economic benefit for the country, thereby contributing to improving economic development. Economic development is also encouraged by RPP activities in that road trauma is reduced, and traffic flows (post-crash or regular) are managed. Sensible speeds contribute to energy efficiency and to minimising undesirable emissions, and the policing of safety is closely linked to security in public places as well as with general crime outcomes.
NZ Police funding levels
Funding totaling $272.840 million has been approved by the Minister of Transport for the RPP for the 2008/09 year. Table 1 below provides a summary, by activity, of the funding and full time equivalent (FTE) staff. The activities are briefly described in table 2 below and fully described in the RPP which can be viewed at http://www.police.govt.nz/resources. Each FTE is equal to 1,500 productive hours of Police time. FTEs are also presented in this NLTP by regional area allocations, where they are sub-grouped by local authority or local authority cluster.
The NZ Police hourly rate for FTEs, calculated by dividing the total funding by the total hours, is $103.841. It is fully over headed as built into the cost of an hour are corporate overheads (including a share of accommodation, IT and radio networks, human resources and financial services); and the direct costs of road policing (including the Traffic Camera Office and Police Infringement Bureau, equipment eg “stop buses” and breath-testing devices, vehicle-weighing devices, speed equipment and its calibration, and depreciation which funds capital items such as NZ Police vehicles).
Table 1: NZ Police component of the 2008/09 Authority’s Land Transport Programme (ALTP), the Road Policing Programme (RPP) by road type activity category and activity
| Activity category and activity | 2008/09 NZ Police funding($000) |
2008/09 FTE |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Proactive strategic | Activity category: State highway |
||
| Speed control [1] | $30,229.1 |
194.1 |
|
| Drinking or drugged driver control | $10,912.6 |
70.1 |
|
| Restraint device control | $2,335.4 |
15.0 |
|
| Visible road safety and general enforcement | $14,404.8 |
92.5 |
|
| Total State highway: | $57,882.0 |
371.6 |
|
Activity category: Rural local roads |
|||
| Speed control [1] | $5,840.5 |
37.5 |
|
| Drinking or drugged driver control | $7,166.6 |
46.0 |
|
| Restraint device control | $1,576.8 |
10.1 |
|
| Visible road safety and general enforcement | $4,112.1 |
26.4 |
|
| Total Rural local roads: | $18,696.0 |
120.0 |
|
Activity category: Urban roads |
|||
| Speed control [1] | $28,121.7 |
180.5 |
|
| Drinking or drugged driver control | $51,432.9 |
330.2 |
|
| Restraint device control | $9,838.4 |
63.2 |
|
| Visible road safety and general enforcement | $25,615.5 |
164.5 |
|
| Total Urban roads: | $115,008.5 |
738.4 |
|
Activity category: Network-wide road policing |
|||
| Commercial vehicle investigation and road user charges enforcement | $16,840.9 |
106.0 |
|
| Reactive | Crash attendance and investigation | $33,796.1 |
217.0 |
| Traffic management | $11,419.4 |
73.3 |
|
| Total Network-wide road policing: | $62,056.4 |
396.3 |
|
Activity category: General road policing support |
|||
| Resolutions | $7,772.5 |
49.9 |
|
| Proactive community | Police community services | $4,877.4 |
31.3 |
| School road safety education | $6,547.2 |
42.0 |
|
| Total General road policing support: | $19,197.1 |
123.2 |
|
| Recommended hours and expenditure totals: | $272,840.0 |
1,745.8 |
|
[1] This activity incorporates 110,260 programmed speed camera person hours. A minimum of total of 91,700 traffic camera hours have also been programmed. However, Police estimate that 104,000 speed camera person delivery hours, and 86,320 traffic camera hours will be delivered in 2008/09 due to delays in procuring the new camera technology for the Auckland region.
Description of road policing activities from previous table
- Table 2 below contains a brief description of road policing activities funded through the RPP. Detailed descriptions, results sought, performance criteria and other information about the activities can be viewed at http://www.police.govt.nz/resources.
Table 2: Description of NZ Police road policing activities
| Activity name | Brief description of activity |
|---|---|
| Speed control | Detection and deterrence of speed offending, including enforcement activities at identified speed black spots |
| Drinking or drugged driver control | Detection and deterrence of drink-drive offending and targeting recidivist drink-drivers |
| Restraint device control | Enforcement of breaches of front and rear restraint and law |
| Visible road safety and general enforcement | Enforcement addressing the road code and traffic laws (over-taking, following distances, driver licensing, unauthorised street and illegal drag races, smoky and noisy vehicles) |
| Commercial vehicle investigation and road user charges enforcement | Risk targeted enforcement of commercial drivers and vehicles |
| Crash attendance and investigation | Management of road crash and investigation of cause factors |
| Traffic management | Maintaining traffic flows both regular and post crash |
| Resolutions | Management of road policing sanctions, prosecutions and court orders |
| Police community services | Community road safety liaison and consultation, road safety action plans and community activities |
| School road safety education | Classroom delivery of approved land transport programmes |
New initiatives approved for 2008/09
The package of new road safety initiatives approved for the 2008/09 year targets specific driver behaviours and specific locations which are demonstrating high social cost caused by crashes in comparison with the policing resources available in those areas. The initiatives are aligned with the Road Safety to 2010 Strategy, in particular drink-driving and speed enforcement. The initiatives also provide a strong focus on trauma promoting offences and provide for an investment in technology to increase officer productivity and safety.
The new initiatives are grouped into six packages of inter-related and complementary activities as follows:
Strategic enforcement package
This package provides funding for the expansion of the mobile speed camera programme into the Northland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Central Police districts; the expansion of the Highway Patrol in the Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Central and Tasman Police districts; the establishment of an additional Targeted Alcohol Group (TAG) in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty Police districts; additional staff for the Auckland Motorways Unit to assist with prompt resolution of incidents on the Auckland motorways network; and the establishment of an urban/rural patrol unit in the Canterbury district as a part of an NRSC “test area” initiative1 with a particular focus on rural and urban intersections.
[1]To demonstrate the effect of intensive enforcement in areas of high crash risk.
Legislative compliance package
This package provides funding for the upgrade and replacement of breath testing equipment to implement, once the appropriate legislation has been passed, a “zero” breath and blood alcohol level for drivers under 20 years who do not have a full licence; the analysis of blood samples for drivers do not complete the roadside impairment test satisfactorily to determine the presence of illegal drugs; the provision of hand held devices to the Commercial Vehicle Investigation Unit (CVIU) for the collection of roadside inspection information which will download into the sector’s operator rating system.
Capability and capacity package
Funding is to be provided to increase the capacity of the Police Infringement Bureau (PIB) to process the additional tickets likely to result from the expansion of the speed camera programme and to upgrade the PIB’s application system (PIBIS) used for processing traffic infringement notices; the appointment of additional Road Policing Analysts within the recently established National Intelligence Centre; and to provide financial resources for the deployment of out-of-town drink driving operations in rural areas and to support innovative enforcement initiatives.
Preparation of the RPP
The programme was prepared by Land Transport NZ in accordance with the section 12A of the LTMA and the provisions of Part 1 of Schedule 1 as is recorded in this summary. The long-term financial forecast of anticipated expenditure on road policing activities is included with the full forecast on page que of this NLTP.
All consultation requirements were fulfilled in accordance with section 15 of the LTMA. The feedback from consultation was analysed and taken into consideration in the preparation of the programme.
Consideration of approved organisations’ recommendations
The consultation processes for the preparation of the programme provided for approved organisations to comment on the level of road policing activities allocated to each activity, and to recommend the same, or more or less based on the road safety trends and outcomes for the area/s involved. Specifically they were asked, for each NZ Police activity, to indicate whether the emphasis was about right, a lesser emphasis would be acceptable, or whether more emphasis was needed; and for comment and/ or justification. They were also invited to make comment on road policing in general or on the RPP itself.
The following table contains the policy applied by Land Transport NZ, in consultation with NZ Police, when considering approved organisations’ road policing recommendations.
Table 3: Local authority 2008/2009 road policing recommendations
| Recommendation Type | Outcome |
|---|---|
| “Emphasis about right” recommendations. | Recommendations endorsed. |
| “More emphasis needed” recommendations with no off-setting “lesser emphasis acceptable” recommendation. | Supported where resources were available – see section 3.1 on pages que to que. In some instances this additional resource is being managed at the NZ Police District level (as for the Highway patrol) and is therefore not included in individual territorial authority/territorial authority cluster allocations. |
| “Lesser emphasis acceptable” recommendations with no off-setting “more emphasis needed” recommendation. | Recommendations not supported (although there were very few of these). |
| Recommendations containing a mix of “More emphasis needed” and “lesser emphasis acceptable” recommendations. | Where: (a) the hours were specified The recommendations were endorsed where appropriate. (b) the hours were not specified The recommendations were considered on a case by case basis and as a general rule no more than 10% of the hours were transferred. |
| Minor mixed recommendations. | To be addressed at the local level through RSAPs, RTPPs and crash books. |
Planning the delivery of road policing resources
Road type categories
A simple road type hierarchy is used for planning the delivery of strategic road policing activities. Strategic activities are those which directly and proactively target the reducing of death and injury, and comprise the enforcement of speed, drinking and/or drugged driving, restraint wearing and general road safety.
Road type is linked to risk, for example about 70 percent of the social cost2 of crashes occurs on high speed roads. Planning and delivering road policing by road type aligns NZ Police resources with the risks presented by the different road types. In other words, since exposure to risk varies according to the type of road, the amount and type of road policing activity is allocated and managed in accordance with the risk for the area and the type of road.
The hierarchy used is defined as follows, and are consistent with the more detailed road type and crash data categories in the Crash Analysis System (CAS):
- H – State highways includes: any state highway where the speed limit is greater than 70 km/h – normally 80 or 100 km/h.
- R – Rural local roads includes: any road or street, which is not an urban road or state highway, where the speed limit is greater than 70 km/h – normally 80 or 100 km/h.
- U – Urban roads includes: any road or street where the speed limit is 70 km/h or less and includes a state highway where the speed limit is 70 km/h or less.
2 The social cost of a crash is the measure of all costs that the crash inflicts on the community – on toad users, emergency service providers and others. It includes not just the costs of material losses (such as medical treatment and property damage) but also pain and suffering.
NZ Police road policing delivery units
Table 4 below lists the 1,749.5 NZ Police FTEs who will deliver the 2008/09 RPP by delivery unit. Table 1 above lists the same 1,749.5 NZ Police FTEs by activity. The NZ Police delivery units are fully described in the NZ Police RPP at http://www.police.govt.nz/resources.
Table 4: Summary of road policing resources by NZ Police delivery unit
| Delivery unit | Total FTE |
|---|---|
| Highway patrol | 231.7 |
| Strategic traffic units (1) | 368.9 |
| General Duties Branch - strategic road policing | 368.9 |
| Auckland Motorways unit (excl TAG) | 59.6 |
| Targeted Alcohol Groups (TAG) | 142.8 |
| Traffic camera operations | 73.5 |
| Rural arterial routes | 30.0 |
| Urban arterial routes (2) | 7.0 |
| Strategic road policing - NRSC test area | 3.8 |
| Commercial Vehicle Investigation Unit | 106.0 |
| Prosecution services | 41.3 |
| Youth Education Service | 42.0 |
| General Duties Branch - non-strategic road policing (3) | 274.1 |
| Total | 1,749.5 |
(1) Guiding rule: 50% of strategic road policing - speed control, drinking or drugged driver control, restraint device control and visible road safety and general enforcement
(2) Unit delivers strategic road policing activities and police community services activities
(3) includes crash attendance and investigation, traffic management, court orders and Police community services activities
Co-ordinating delivery
Planning road policing by road type provides for the better integration of enforcement with the planning road controlling authorities undertake in managing their land transport networks. Likewise, interagency Road Safety Action Planning (RSAP) are for the purpose of planning and synchronising the delivery of engineering, education and enforcement activities in order to achieve value for money and joint outcomes for the land transport sector.
Road Safety Action Plans (RSAPs)
Road Safety Action Plans (RSAPs) are implementation plans that record local road safety risks that are identified by the evidence base (including crash data, enforcement statistics, the results of crash reduction studies, local intelligence, network safety co-ordination projects3 and, where appropriate, regional strategies and local plans). Each RSAP includes objectives, planning and review processes so that the three Es of road safety: enforcement, education and enforcement - are co-ordinated to ensure effective targeted and prioritised action to reduce road trauma. Each plan covers an area determined by the local partners.
The National Road Safety Committee (NRSC)4, comprising the Chief Executives of Local Government New Zealand and central government agencies with an interest in road safety, has agreed that RSAPs should be the primary mechanism for the co-ordination of education, engineering and enforcement approaches to road safety at the district and sub-regional levels. The Committee has tasked Land Transport NZ with ensuring uniformity in how RSAP planning is managed nationally.
Risk Targeted Patrol Plans (RTPPs) and Crash Books
RTPPs and crash books provide for road policing delivery according to risk, for example, by location, time of day and day of week and type of offence.
Road policing flexibility to target risk
As explained above in paragraph 5.1, strategic road policing resources are allocated by road type for the delivery of speed control, drinking or drugged driver control, restraint device control and visible road safety and general enforcement. Delivery of these activities can be fine tuned at the local level in order to address risk in accordance with RSAPs, including network safety co-ordination projects, RTPPs and Crash Books.
RPP monitoring and reporting
Strategic road policing allocations are listed in the NLTP at the local authority or cluster level by road type, and at also at the local authority or cluster level by output type (eg speed, drink-drinking, restraint use and other factors) in the NZ Police RPP at http://www.police.govt.nz/resources. Road safety outcomes are monitored in accordance with both road type and output type; and the tracking of outputs (delivery) and outcomes (achievements) is key in terms of the feedback loop for the planning, funding and programming of road policing resources.
3These are similar to road safety action plans but focus on specific sections of the state highway network.
4The NRSC is the principal inter-agency forum for communicating and agreeing top level strategy between the agencies on matters related to road safety, and for ensuring proper coordination between the parties on all significant matters associated with road safety. The NRSC is made up of the Secretary for Transport (chair), the Commissioner of Police, and the chief executives of Land Transport NZ, the Accident Compensation Corporation, Transit New Zealand and Local Government New Zealand. Associate members are the Director General of Health, the Secretary of Labour and the Secretary for Justice.
Page created: 30 June 2008