April 29 2019

With Auckland Transport now collecting more that $11 million in fines for bus lane encroachment, Mayoral Candidate Craig Lord believes the public are being misled.

More than 80,000 tickets have been issued over the last 12 months to motorists that are using bus lanes inside the 50 metre rule. The problem for Lord is that the roads are not marked clearly - and he believes this is on purpose.

“At a guess I would say 75% of the motorists being ticketed don’t realise they have broken the rule because the 50 metre mark is not being shown. Drivers have to assume, and if measuring 50 metres was easy, then they wouldn’t have invented tape measures” states Lord.

Auckland Transport have reported that the fine numbers are low and have only increased due to the number of new bus lanes.

“Their argument doesn’t hold water with me, or with the public. Instead of being helpful to motorists, AT have decided to play games and instead have been looking at their bank balance. It would be easy to paint lines, or different colours on the road, and just as easy to fit signs - but instead they are going to install more cameras to catch people out.”

“They sit there in their office, knowing that the cost of the cameras will be covered by the income from the fines. Their approach is borderline criminal and corrupt and it needs to stop.”

Lord has vowed to find the truth if he is elected into the Mayor’s office this year.

“It won’t take long to find the truth, they’ll be trying to hide it, and I’m the last person they want elected in because of that. All I say to them is hold on to your hats, it’s going to get windy.”

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