THE Roads Minister yesterday denied there were ''current plans'' for more than six digital mobile speed cameras - even though each camera would have to operate for 67 hours a day to fulfil the state government's target of 12,200 hours a month by July 2011.
The six cameras started operating in six regions around NSW yesterday - with only one camera to be active in the greater Sydney region.
In the first month, when warning letters will be sent and no fines issued, the cameras - which can operate at night - will be active for only six hours a day each.
The meagre start to the program - less than one camera for every million residents - was criticised by the Pedestrian Council, which called on the government to operate more cameras in more, undisclosed, locations.
The minister, David Borger, remained unapologetic for not revealing exactly where the cameras would be stationed every day, saying motorists had been provided with a list of 150 likely locations, which were accident black spots.
''All the evidence shows that if people know exactly, precisely, where a location will be, they will temporarily slow down and may speed up again after they get to that location, so that the risks of injuries and the risks of deaths are still maintained along that section of road.''
The government is spending $1.2 million on an advertising campaign about the scheme, more than half as much as the $2 million contract to supply and operate cameras for a year. But the government expects to earn $137 million in fines from the cameras this financial year.
Mr Borger said the abolition of old film-based mobile speed cameras was responsible for an increase in the road toll in recent years and predicted a reduction. ''We think that six cameras can make an impact on the road toll in NSW.''
Mobile speed cameras had reduced the road toll by 25 per cent in Queensland and 34 per cent in Victoria, he said.
''The current plans are that there are six vehicles in NSW. There are no current plans to expand it beyond that,'' Mr Borger said. But his spokeswoman later acknowledged that that this was incorrect.
When the former transport minister, David Campbell, announced the program in March, the government spoke of 35 to 40 cameras to deliver 12,200 hours of enforcement a month.
Mr Borger's spokeswoman said last night the RTA ''can't remember that statistic'' and that it might have been ''an estimate''.
Arizona is shutting down the cameras tracking speeders on state highways. By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
Published: July 15, 2010
PHOENIX — At the first tick of the clock Friday, an array of automated cameras on Arizona freeways aimed at catching speeders were to stop clicking.
There is no glitch. The state, the first to adopt such cameras on its highways in October 2008, has become the first to pull the plug, bowing to the wishes of a vocal band of conservative activists who complained that photo enforcement intruded on privacy and was mainly designed to raise money. Read the full story....
Queensland & NSW Get New Mobile Speed Cameras
Queensland - Speed camera revenue claims 'Horrifying'
July 16, 2010 Brisbane Times
"They're claiming this is the silver bullet, when speed is one factor killing people on the roads. "
Queensland's transport minister said yesterday she was 'horrified' by suggestions covert speed cameras were revenue-raisers.
Rachel Nolan yesterday seized on lower road toll figures to justify the government's strategy of rolling out unmarked speed camera vehicles and point-to-point speed cameras to catch speedsters.
The Queensland Police Union and state opposition have both accused the government of using the cameras to raise revenue. But Ms Nolan, under questioning in a budget estimates hearing yesterday, said the state's road toll was 35 per cent lower than it was at the same time last year.
"Last year was the best record on a per capita basis that this state has ever had," she said.
"The thing that I frankly find horrifying is that the opposition's response at the time [to the speed camera measures] was simply to label all of that change revenue raising and to indicate that the government was trying to make money not make the roads safer. "The proof of the pudding, however, I think it is fair to say, is in the eating."
Police figures yesterday showed 127 people had died on the roads so far this year, 68 fewer than during the same period last year. Ms Nolan said road safety should be supported by both sides of politics, particularly when the changes appeared to be working. However, opposition transport spokeswoman Fiona Simpson said the government had provided no evidence to suggest the new speed cameras were behind the road toll decline. Ms Simpson said she was happy to look at any evidence about the effect of the new speed cameras that was "more than just a few months out of the gate". "They were claiming a reduction even before a lot of these [measures] had rolled out so we've got to question their claims," she said. "They're claiming this is the silver bullet, when speed is one factor killing people on the roads. It's an important factor but it's only one factor."
Ms Simpson said the opposition believed greater numbers of mobile police patrols were a better way to combat dangerous driving.
Police began using covert cameras in Brisbane over the Easter holidays, when officers used a Holden Rodeo that looked like a normal work van parked on the side of the road.
The unmarked vehicles accounted for about one-sixth of the 15,296 motorists fined for travelling over the speed limit during Easter.
Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers last month accused the Bligh government of "becoming addicted to the revenue of speed cameras".
VIDEO - CLICK PLAY NSW gets six new radar systems by Redflex a Melbourne based company. The units comprise video, stills photography and night IR flash units. The cars are equipped with smash resistant windows to keep road raging drivers from getting to the camera operators. Perhaps Redflex should be installing bullet proof glass instead. Reflex operator shot dead in USA recently.
New speed cameras deliver a fast buck
DRIVERS are about to be whacked by mobile speed cameras the NSW Government believes will help deliver more than $100 million in fines this financial year alone.
Macquarie Bank, dubbed "the millionaires' factory" because of the huge salaries paid to executives, is attempting to secure a cut of the bonanza by launching a $275 million takeover bid for Redflex, the company contracted by the State Government to operate the cameras.
An initial fleet of six camera vehicles will be rolled out from July 19 at traffic black spots across NSW with plans for more next financial year.
They can fine six drivers every second.
Budget papers reveal that revenue from fines will almost double from $295 million in 2008-09 to $570 million in 2011-12
"Fine revenue is estimated to increase by $137 million during 2010-11, with a mobile speed camera program and a five per cent increase in speeding fines," the Budget says. The NSW Government has refused to disclose how much of the $137 million increase will come from the mobile vans, but The Sunday Telegraph can reveal it could be $100 million.
The fleet of white Ford Territory vans will carry radar cameras that can catch as many as six speeding cars travelling in either direction, every second, day or night, regardless of weather conditions. The vans also record video and have roof-mounted CCTV cameras.
An initial fleet of six camera vehicles will be rolled out in eight days, with plans for more next financial year.
The NSW Government refuses to disclose how much of the revenue will go to Redflex, which also supplies fixed speed cameras, but the Victoria-based company is now the target of a takeover bid by Macquarie Bank. The bank and two of its wholly owned subsidiaries - Macquarie Radar Holdings and Macquarie Special Situations Master Fund - bought 10 per cent of Redflex in June.
Macquarie Bank has made billions out of privatising roads and airports in NSW. Last year, the corporate giant made more than $1 billion. Drivers will not be warned before driving into the mobile speed camera's zone. A small sign on the vehicle reads: "Safe speed check". Another sign placed at the roadside will inform motorists: "Your speed has been checked."
The speed camera locations will be uploaded daily to the Roads and Traffic Authority website to encourage drivers to slow down. Fines will also be waived for the first month of operation, with drivers receiving a warning letter, instead. The Sunday Telegraph was given the first look at the new vehicles last week. Each has two bi-directional radars to measure the speed of as many as six lanes of traffic.
Inside the boot is an 11- megapixel digital camera, which will take two photographs of speeding motorists. Alongside the digital camera is a video camera, which will record continuously to monitor the road. On the roof is the infrared flash, which is invisible to the naked eye to avoid distracting drivers caught at night. Mobile speed cameras will be parked at each destination for three hours, before moving on to a new location. "The mobile speed cameras will only be placed in locations with a high accident history as determined by the RTA in consultation with NSW Police," Dr Soames Job, director of the RTA's Centre for Road Safety, said. The NSW Government has refused to specify what proportion of its $137 million increase in fines will come from the mobile cameras. Last year, about $62 million was collected by fixed speed cameras. Based on the Budget figures and an average fine of $211, an estimated 1600 more drivers a day could be booked this financial year.
Mobile cameras have been responsible for a sharp increase in speeding fines in Victoria, where 50,000 drivers a month are caught. Angry motorists claim they are simply a revenue-raising tool.
NSW Roads Minister David Borger said he was determined to cut the road toll and the mobile cameras would help. The NRMA wants a review of the cameras if the road toll remains unchanged.
Avoid the Con -
Covert speed cameras a con say Qld police
Queensland's police union dismisses covert speed cameras as "poker machines on wheels", but Premier Anna Bligh insists they are an important tool to help cut the state's road toll.
Police Union president Ian Leavers says Queensland's average weekly road toll has actually increased since covert cameras were introduced in early April.
"I fear that the Bligh government is becoming addicted to the revenue of speed cameras," he told reporters on Wednesday.
"Sure they rake in the dollars, however, the deterrent effect for speedsters is non-existent."
Mr Leavers said the road toll was falling before covert cameras were put on the roads.
In the 14 weeks to April 4, there were 3.7 deaths a week, while in the eight weeks to May 30 when the cameras operated there were 5.1 deaths a week.
"There is not a shred of evidence that they have had any positive impact in reducing fatalities on our roads," Mr Leavers said.
Ms Bligh said police needed a range of tools to crack down on irresponsible road use, and covert cameras were an important part of the mix.
"We know from years of experience that it's a combination of penalties, enforcement and encouraging people to do the right thing. Every part of it is important, including speed cameras.
"... I think anybody who's out there driving knows that if you know there is a red light camera, you slow down and make sure you're travelling at the speed limit.
"That is protecting lives and we are going to keep making sure it's part of a whole suite of road safety measures."
Police Minister Neil Roberts told AAP research showed covert and visible speed cameras changed driver behaviour.
"I've never made the claim that covert cameras are actually reducing the toll at this stage, but over time when people get tickets in the mail it will dawn on them you don't always know where speed cameras are," Mr Roberts said.
"Police are working on the mantra `Anywhere anytime'.
"To me covert cameras are a critical part of the road safety program."
The Big Lie
"Speed Cameras are all about Road Safety & Not Government Revenue!"
Why would the WA Government buy so many new expensive speed and red light cameras to supposedly "drive down the road toll" and then bank heavily on this road safety strategy failing in a monumental way?
Because this heavy handed approach is not about road safety and never has been. It's about making government rich with a new stream of tax dollars. Hundreds of millions of dollars that will not get spent on road safety but everything else. Western Australia is walking down the same path as Victoria and NSW, making the motoring public feel like criminals for traveling a few kilometers over these sometimes stupidly low speed limits.
Once again we would like to give credit to Paul Murray for his insight into this two faced approach to road safety.
Paul Murray Editor West Australian News Paper.
Saturday June 19 - The West Australian
In all of his recent statements about WA's massive increase in speed cameras, Police Minister Rob Johnson has been scrupulously silent on how the extra money raked in through fines will be spent. And we're not talking peanuts here.
Over the coming four financial years, an extra $250 million will flow to the Government from speed and red-light fines.
While the minister has been silent, the recent State Budget papers speak volumes.
They show the fines growing from $37.2 million this financial year to $92.9 million next year as the revenue from 67 new cameras pours into Sate coffers.
But the following years are the ones that make the most interesting reading. In 2011-12 and the two years after that for which the Budget projects revenue, the Government has written in red-light and speed fines at $112.0 million annually.
What that tells us is that four years down the track of this new regime of speed control, the Government expects no discernible change in driver behaviour. The fines revenue remains static.
Now, as I've written here many times, I don't really care how many people get done for speeding. You take your chances and pay for your misdeeds. Most speeding fines are for minor infringements and I've never been convinced that these marginal speeders are a danger to anyone or anything other than their own wallets.
The response "if you don't speed you don't get fined" is a fairly moronic because it ignores the fact that this increase in cameras - at a cost of $30 million to taxpayers - is meant to be a major part of a road safety strategy.
On the basis of the static figures in the Budget's out-years, it is a road safety strategy that is not expected to have any effect on the amount of speeding on our roads well into the middle of this decade.
If the simplistic theory is that speed kills, then this $30million dollar investment is not in saving lives, but in growing revenue...
In NSW where speed cameras have been rolled out in extraordinary numbers over the past decade, has seen an increase in its road toll from 86 to 460.
PoliceSpeedCameras - "The road toll should continue to have a downward trend with huge advances in vehicle safety from seat belts to front and side air bags, from anti-lock brakes to vehicle stability electronics. The truth as Mr Paul Murray sees it (and so do we), that until governments start to spend this huge windfall in government revenue on road safety and not on everything else, lives will continue to be lost in ever increasing numbers.
The hidden truth about WA Country Road Deaths.
Country drivers will continue to die in large numbers because of :
Poor road design and lack of overtaking zones.
The poor standard of ambulance care in country areas that rely on volunteers and low level paramedics.
Long extrication times for trapped occupants.
The poor quality of hospital trauma care in the bush and the lack of trauma specialists.
The huge distances and time it takes to get to hospital.
Only the youngest fittest ever get to major trauma centres alive usually 6 to 8 hours after the accident. Everyone else dies along the way.
BEAT MONEY HUNGRY STATE GOVERNMENTS
GHOSTPLATES
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If you are concerned about the re-introduction of speed cameras in NSW, then this is the item you should take a closer look at.
GhostPlates make you licence plate "ghost out" at various angles while remaining clear to view from infront and behind.
Ken Lay last year sacked Sgt Mark Ashton for being too lenient when handing out speeding fines to motorists. Apparently Sgt. Ashton gave out 500 tickets in 2 years but discounted the speed on some tickets giving motorists a lesser fine to pay.
All we can say is thank you Sgt. Mark Ashton for being human and sorry to here you've been treated so astoundingly poorly!
Radar Detectors have had their day.It takes on a few milliseconds to obtain a speed reading with a laser gun. IF your radar/laser detector manages to sound a warning, its already too late. YOUR BUSTED.
The new generation of laser speed detection equipment is leaving radar based technology far behind. Laser is far more capable as a speed measurement tool than reflection prone radar equipment.
Laser detector jammers are emerging as the only tool capable of defeating laser guns and laser speed cameras such as the new Poliscan Speed Laser Speed Camera. The best on the market is the new BLINDER X-TREME 7 - series of multipurpose laser systems.
With BLINDER stealth technology you'll have time to slow down and avoid a speeding ticket without drawing attention to yourself.
