By Eryk Michael Smith / Staff. Image via Radarway.com/i-view.com.tw.
KAOHSIUNG — Most drivers are aware of how roadside speeding cameras work: a sensor of some kind measures how fast a vehicle is traveling right as it passes the camera. Average-speed enforcement, however, measures how fast a vehicle travels across a section of a road.
On Songyi Road (松藝路) in Niaosong District (鳥松區), cameras record when a vehicle enters and exits a 1.3-kilometer monitored section between Yuanshan Road (圓山路) and Dajing 2nd Street (大景二街). If the time it takes to travel through the section shows the vehicle’s average speed was over the 50-kilometer-per-hour limit, the driver can be fined.
Songyi Road, beside Kaohsiung Green Park (果嶺自然公園) and Chengcing Lake (澄清湖), became Kaohsiung’s first average-speed enforcement section in 2019 after repeated crashes in the area.
Kaohsiung currently has three average-speed enforcement sections. In addition to Songyi Road, the city has systems on City Highway 182 (市道182線) in Neimen District (內門區) and a section of Provincial Highway 3 (台3線), also in Neimen.
Songyi Road recorded the highest number of average-speed violations among the three last year, with 1,795 tickets. Provincial Highway 3 recorded 1,539, while City Highway 182 recorded 383, according to police data cited by the Liberty Times.
A new traffic light installed on Songyi Road in February appears to have reduced speeding violations by forcing some drivers to stop midway through the monitored section. Police recorded 613 violations on Songyi Road in January, before the light was added. The number fell to 329 in February, rose to 513 in March, and dropped again to 324 in April.
The Transportation Bureau (交通局) said the light was installed to help people cross safely between the city’s new Green Park (果嶺自然公園) and Chengcing Lake (澄清湖), but the drop in speeding violations has been a welcome side effect. At night, the signal switches to flashing mode and can be activated by pedestrians.
Officials said the drop in tickets does not mean the average-speed enforcement system will be removed. They said the system is still needed and has helped reduce crashes on Songyi Road (松藝路).
