Transmission Gully motorway near of Wellington. Photo: Mark Coote
The New Zealand Transport Agency / Waka Kotahi has put off installing number plate identifying cameras on Transmission Gully motorway.
It wants the cameras to calculate travels times to determine if the private operators of the road near Wellington are meeting performance standards.
Some critics of the automated number plate recognition cameras say they impinge on privacy, and their widespread use by police to gather evidence without a warrant is subject to several court challenges.
Transmission Gully is a public-private partnership (PPP) owned by the Crown and operated by major contractor Ventia under a 25-year deal.
The contract payments were linked to a range of key performance indicators, Waka Kotahi said.
"When the cameras are installed, they will 'read' the number plates of vehicles at each end to calculate average travel times along the motorway. They will be used to determine if the performance standards of our PPP contractors are being delivered."
Once the footage was used in calculations, all images and registration numbers would be deleted in accordance with NZTA policies, it said.
RNZ asked Waka Kotahi to confirm the number plate footage would first be checked against the motor vehicle registry, which could identify the vehicle, not just its speed.
The agency said the cameras' use was legal under the Privacy Act and under its statutory duties to manage the state highway system.
"Privacy protections are in place."
Road safety cameras needed gazetting, "however, these cameras are not being used as safety cameras", it said.
It had no revised dates for installing them.