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Canberra - Lightning strike delays cameras

A LIGHTNING strike has given some speeding Canberra drivers a month's grace.

Point-to-point cameras on the territory's roads will not start working for another month because cameras were struck by a bolt of lightning during a thunderstorm in December.

The cameras were located near the intersection of Hindmarsh Drive and Mugga Way at Red Hill.

While the destroyed cameras were quickly replaced, the connection between the cameras and loop detector set into the road surface was damaged.

The cameras subsequently failed testing by an independent body earlier this month.

ACT transport regulation acting senior director Brett Swale said the problem had been fixed and now awaited the green light from certifiers Societe Generale de Surveillance Australia before becoming operational in late February.

The certification process will take place in the coming weeks and involves a test vehicle, mounted with a timing unit, passing through the detection points.

The recorded times are then checked to ensure the devices are accurate within a tolerance of 2per cent.

Mr Swale also moved to allay concerns the speed cameras had no margin for error.

Motorists have raised concerns that mid-2006 changes in the Australian Design Standards for speedometers could mean that Canberrans driving early model cars could be slugged with a fine through dodgy readings.

While he could not reveal the margin for error allowed in ACT speed traps, Mr Swale said Canberrans should not fear if they stick to the set limits.

''All traffic cameras in the ACT, including point-to-point cameras, take into account a small margin of driver error,'' Mr Swale said.

''If people drive within the speed limit then they won't have a problem.''

Mr Swale urged motorists to get their vehicle's speedometer checked if they were concerned about faulty readings.

Expert defends speed camera shutdown

The former head of the Roads and Traffic Authority's Road Safety Centre has defended a New South Wales Government decision to turn off a speed camera near the scene of a fatal north coast accident this week.

Two people, including an 11-year-old boy, died at Urunga on Sunday when a truck and utility crashed into a house.

Dr Soames Job says more speed cameras need to be installed across NSW.

However, he says switching off of the Urunga camera was justified.

"The data indicated that some cameras weren't giving us the road safety benefit we expected for various complex reasons," he said.

"There is a reasonableness to that.

"I think what is getting in the way is that there is a lot of media constantly saying that cameras are just for revenue, that speed cameras don't work, that speed cameras are inaccurate. All of those statements are false."

He says the Government should expand its point-to-point speed camera program, which he says is currently only used for trucks.

Two Speed Pacific Highway Limits Changed

Dec 8th 2011 - News South Wales -

MOTORISTS on the Pacific Highway, south of Coffs Harbour, might from next week have to figure whether they are driving on a dry or a wet track, or face a speeding fine.

The situation arises from news the Roads and Maritime Services, formerly the RTA, will apply 'two-speed signage' on a problem section of the highway by next Tuesday due to a large number of wet weather crashes.

A temporary speed reduction to 80km/h is already in place between the Raleigh bypass from the Waterfall Way interchange to Perry's Hill.  

If its dry, the section of the upgraded Bonville Bypass works will be 110km/h, but if rain has fallen an 80km/h speed zone will come into force, Coffs Harbour MP Andrew Fraser explained.  

Unsuspecting or unwilling motorists continued to break the 100km/h mark this week and police radar guns had them in their sights.

Countless drivers now face an anxious wait to see if they could possibly lose their licences should the appeals process not hold up in their favour.

On October 31, Mr Fraser announced the speed limit north of Urunga, one kilometre south of Short Cut Rd to the Lyons Rd interchange, had been changed from 100km/h to 110km/h.

Yet travelling to Sydney last week he hit the temporary 80km/h speed zone and said he figured it had been imposed due to road works.   

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NSW - Motorists cop $20,000 in daily fines

Illawarra Mercury by BEVAN SHIELDS

Government coffers are being filled with nearly $20,000 a day from Illawarra drivers falling victim to speed cameras and parking officers.

An analysis of NSW Office of State Revenue data shows Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama motorists were hit with $8.7million in various fines between July last year and November this year.

However, it is unclear how much, if any, was funnelled back to the region for improved services and infrastructure.

Nearly 20,000 lead-foot drivers were the State Government’s top revenue raisers, netting $4.1million, while parking fines were a lucrative source of income for Wollongong City Council, delivering $3.2million.

Five safety cameras in Wollongong, Unanderra, Figtree and Windang have earned $362,207 in just a few months.

A safety camera on the corner of Gladstone Ave and Crown St has nabbed 336 red-light runners while another on the Princes Hwy at Figtree caught 309.

Traffic fines are a common gripe for residents, with some of the region’s busiest roads targeted by fixed and mobile speed cameras.

NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay said if people didn’t speed, they wouldn’t receive speeding fines.

When asked how much penalty notice revenue was put back into the Illawarra, Mr Gay said all funds from traffic offences go into consolidated revenue.

Lake Illawarra police have nabbed 1287 speeding drivers this financial year while Wollongong police busted 1170.

Thirty-four people were clocked travelling more than 45km/h over the limit.

Fixed speed cameras at Gwynneville, Corrimal, Warrawong, Figtree and Bulli have also been huge earners, bringing in nearly $500,000 between July and November this year.

A camera on the F6 at Gwynneville was responsible for roughly half that amount, however, the presence of the camera has produced results.

In 2004-05, the camera snapped 15,836 northbound motorists speeding but last financial year that had fallen considerably to 3115.

That individual camera has hauled $8.23million in fines since 2004-05.

Meanwhile, some 115 drivers have been caught not wearing their seatbelts since July this year, while 352 people were busted talking on their mobile phones while driving.

The NSW Office of State Revenue data also showed Wollongong council has raised $3.2 millionfrom 2494 different parking fines since July 2010.

Based on the data, an average of 110 people are issued with some form of traffic or parking fine each day in the Illawarra.

Mr Gay urged motorists to obey the road rules.

In July, Mr Gay ordered more than a quarter of the state’s speed cameras be switched off after an audit found they were having little impact on improving road safety.

ACT Government to refund $1.6million in Fines

Nearly 10,000 drivers had their speeding, parking and traffic fines struck out last year, due to what motoring groups are describing as inherent flaws in the Territory's infringement systems.

One in three drivers who disputed a fine in the ACT had their penalties waived last financial year, forcing the Government to refund $1.6million to falsely accused Canberrans.

About one of every six drivers caught parking illegally, speeding, or committing other traffic offences disputed their fines, according to statistics issued by the Justice and Community Safety Directorate.

Authorities are forced to devote a considerable amount of resources into investigating each of the 26,087 challenged fines.

ACT Policing alone spent almost $500,000 trying to work out whether each traffic dispute was valid.

NRMA director Alan Evans said the sheer number of challenges suggested deep flaws with the territory's infringement system.

Mr Evans questioned whether parking inspectors were being adequately trained and whether signs were easy enough for motorists to read.

He said the fact that camera infringement notices were being refunded indicated fixed speed cameras were not a ''foolproof'' technology.

''That's a concerning feature to me, that on fixed speed cameras, people are seeking a review and it's been found that they haven't transgressed,'' he said.

''That suggest to me there might be some faults in the system that are not being made public.''

Monash University Accident Research Centre's Professor Max Cameron said it was surprising that fixed and mobile camera technology had been proved wrong on so many cases.

Professor Cameron said the technology had proven highly accurate in most other jurisdictions. ''There are very few examples, at least in other states and territories, where people escape camera fines,'' he said. ''There's some classic counter-examples, but they're very rare.''

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