Former ECan chairman Peter Scott recorded speeding 46 times in one day

Friday, 27 September 2024

A council vehicle used by former Environment Canterbury (ECan) chairman Peter Scott was recorded speeding 46 times in one day, and once hit 105kph in a 50kph zone.

Excessive speeding was so frequent that on 21 separate occasions, it reached the bar required for suspending the driver’s licence. If every speeding occurrence had been caught by police, the fines would have totalled nearly $90,000.

Scott resigned as chairman on Thursday morning, citing negative attention from revelations his council car had been recorded speeding at 5kph or more over the speed limit 678 times this year.

He had earlier said he was “surprised” at the extent of speeding in the car, which he used to commute from his home near Timaru to ECan’s Christchurch headquarters.

ECan on Thursday released a spreadsheet containing each instance of speeding recorded in Scott’s car. It showed nearly half the speeding occurrences were “excessive”, meaning at least 15kph over the speed limit.

It includes numerous examples of severe speeding, including one instance of driving 105kph in a 50kph zone, which happened around 11am on a Friday. Drivers caught exceeding the speed limit by over 50kph can be prosecuted for careless driving. Four such incidents were recorded.

Breaking the speed limit by 40kph or more can result in a 28-day licence suspension. There were 21 such instances, including seven in one day.

An ECan spokesperson said the council vehicle, a Toyota Highlander, was also used privately by Scott’s family members and occasionally by staff and contractors.

The data shows the car sped at virtually all hours of the day and night, and often many times a day.

On April 23, the car was first recorded speeding at 3.13am. It broke the speed limit 25 times before 5am, reaching a top speed of 152kph, above the threshold for prosecution. Assuming it was one continuous trip, the car was speeding for approximately half of the 90-minute journey.

But the most egregious example came a few weeks later, on May 10. The car was first recorded speeding at 3.30am, and over the next hour exceeded 140kph six times. By 4.55am, there were 22 recorded instances of speeding, including a one minute period above 140kph.

The car hit the road again from 9.55am, speeding 15 times before 11.40am. In the afternoon, the car sped nine times between 2.38pm and 4.30pm. On that day alone, the car was speeding for a total distance of 150km, nearly all of it excessively.

While most incidents happened on the open road, there were more than 250 occurrences of speeding in a 50kph zone. Twice in one week, the car hit 90kph in a 50kph zone; twice in one day, it hit 85kph and 83kph respectively.

The data does not show where the speeding was recorded. It does, however, show the duration of each speeding instance.

In the vast majority of cases, the speeding lasted more than 30 seconds.

Overall, for the year up to August 31, the car sped for a total of 1400km and for a combined 11 hours and 49 minutes.

This excludes a six-week period in which Scott stood down as chairman due to a separate controversy involving matters at his farm. There was no data for this period, suggesting the car wasn’t being used.

It was unlikely there would be legal ramifications for Scott’s speeding, despite reaching the bar for prosecution on several occasions.

Although there was some case law that GPS data could be used as evidence, it was far from straightforward, traffic lawyer Alistair Haskett said.

“In theory, police could try and bring a prosecution based on GPS data, but that would be ripe for legal argument as to whether they could use it, and whether it was significantly accurate to prove the charge.”

There was also a six month time limit on bringing category one charges, which driving more than 50kph over the speed limit comes under, as well as the need to prove the driver’s identity when others were allowed to drive the car.

The whole affair underscored the need for a national code of conduct, because “each council makes up its own rules as it goes along,” University of Technology Sydney local government expert Dr Andy Asquith said.

“There are many, many councillors that are councillors for all the right reasons, the conduct of a few …. brings everyone into disrepute.”

There were still questions as to whether Scott was fit to hold public office, Asquith said.

One test could be whether the behaviour would have led to disciplinary action had the chairman been subject to employment law.

Another could be the principles created by the United Kingdom’s ethical watchdog the Committee of Standards in Public Life

The Committee’s seven principles apply across the public sector, from government ministers to civil servants, police to local councillors.

While not law, the principles are enshrined in codes of conduct, governance agreements and ethical standards.

Former ECan chair Kerry Burke took issue with Scott’s statement the publicity that led to him standing down was “not related to his role as chairman”, given he’s alleged to have been repeatedly speeding in a council provided car.

Scott was also answerable for the publicity he referred to as “a distraction”, from ECan’s lack of compliance with the RMA to farming without the proper consents, Burke said.

“As the political head of the consenting authority, if he can’t fix that [consenting delays] and get the council back within the law, that is his problem.”

It would be “cleaner cut” had Scott also stood down as a councillor.

“For all his good work for the community over many years, this is what will hang over him.”

He also questioned the Resource Management Act investigation held into Scott’s claim of “operating illegally” on his South Canterbury farm.

“For $66,000, it didn't ask hard questions, they had ‘discussions’, they didn't make findings, they had ‘observations’ - surely to God that’s not the way to run an investigation in a serious manner.”

“My view is Peter has overseen a culture of secrecy. It would be a good idea if whoever came in next made sure there were fewer communications staff and more consenting processing and monitoring people. That’s what Canterbury needs.”