VICTORIA - Wasting money on helicopters to do traffic work?
April 25 2012
An eye in the sky for speed
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s the police airwing… and they’re monitoring you.
As of last week police revved up their road enforcement on freeways with the reintroduction of aerial speed detection in a bid to further encourage motorists to slow down. Police from the airwing will use an unmarked helicopter to fly over a pre-measured distance of road, measuring the time it takes a vehicle to travel from one point to another to determine whether they are travelling within the speed limit.
If the motorist is found to be speeding, police from the helicopter will radio the details of the vehicle through to the highway patrol unit on the ground who will then intercept the offending driver.
Superintendent Neville Taylor said this method of enforcement had been used by police in the past and was found to be very effective.
“There are some road users out there who know where fixed speed cameras are on the freeways and think it’s okay to slow down when they approach the camera, and then speed up again when they go past,” Supt Taylor said.
“Our message to those drivers is that you need to be travelling within the signed speed limit at all times because we are watching – from the sky and the road – and if you’re speeding, we will catch you – even if you can’t see us.
“The ‘we are the toll’ campaign is all about the whole community taking action, not just police, because we are the toll – your family, my friends, our police.”
“We are the toll” was launched on April 2 following predictions that the final road toll for 2012 could be 30 to 40 deaths higher than last year.
Police will also be running a number of large-scale road operations throughout the state with a focus on motorcycle licensing, registration, alcohol and driving behaviour offences.
Add a commentVictoria's New Speed Camera Commissioner
New Speed Camera Commissioner Role Explained
The Commissioners job is not to look into individual speed camera tickets, but to look for trends in the number and location of complaints.
The role is to provide the following:
- quality assurance and reporting: to independently monitor and review current camera operations
- investigate and review: any part of the system of the Commissioner’s choosing or as requested by the Minister
- complaints management: any person who feels aggrieved by the camera system can lodge a complaint with the Commissioner.
To make a complaint, an aggrieved person (or their representative) can write to the Commissioner’s office at the following address:
Street address:
Office of the Road Safety Camera Commissioner
121 Exhibition Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Postal address:
Office of the Road Safety Camera Commissioner
Locked Bag 14
Collins Street East
Melbourne VIC 8003
Telephone: 1300 651 838
email Your Complaint
Yes, they do accept email complaints, but they apparently don't have an email form worked out yet. 10th Feb 2012 ( Amazing when you consider that this should be part of the process.) In the mean time, I would send my complaint via their feedback form located here.
Click "Read more" below for more information - FAQs - explanations
Add a commentVictoria Gets Speed Camera Watchdog
Gordon Lewis is a former County Court judge who is Victoria's new speed camera commissioner. Picture: Ellen Smith Source: Herald Sun
THERE is no doubt speed cameras save lives and also no doubt they have slowed down most Victorian drivers.
But there is also no doubt many motorists view them as revenue raisers ahead of life savers.
Drivers see them on long, flat, safe stretches of road and conclude they are there to nab people doing just a few kilometres over the limit as they simply keep up with the traffic flow, which irks them.
Then there are those motorists who are convinced the cameras are inaccurate and get frustrated because it is just about impossible for a busted driver to prove the camera that snapped them was faulty.
It is this perception that speed cameras are both unreliable and revenue raisers that prompted Police Minister Peter Ryan to appoint an independent person to act as a speed camera watchdog, for which he should be applauded.
That person is former County Court judge Gordon Lewis, who is a welcome addition to the checks and balances that already exist on Victoria's traffic cameras.
Mr Lewis wants motorists to contact him with their complaints about the controversial cameras. He expects to be swamped, but sees finding out what concerns people have and taking action on them as the best way of changing their negative view of speed cameras into a positive one.
He has been given wide-ranging powers to investigate every aspect of Victoria's traffic camera system. While he can't force the Government to make the changes he recommends, he has been given assurances that action will be taken on his findings.
To help ensure that is the case, Mr Lewis will make his recommendations public, meaning if the Government chooses not to heed those recommendations then we will all know about it and much negative publicity for the Government will ensue.
Victoria (Australia) - Speed cheats pay to keep licence
Herald Sun -
EXCLUSIVE: SPEEDING drivers are keeping their licences because they are exploiting a legal loophole to pay a fine to avoid getting demerit points.
Up to 50,000 rogue drivers each year pay a fine to avoid demerit points.
The Herald Sun has learned the "pay-to-speed" clause has boosted government coffers by $112 million in three years.
The loophole allows motorists to cop an extra $717 fine on top of their original traffic fine if they do not tell police who was driving at the time of the offence.
The points attached to the original fine are not recorded against any driver's licence.
There is no limit to the number of times a driver or a company can pay the extra fine to avoid demerit points.
A police source said cab and truck drivers were the worst offenders, with companies blatantly allowing drivers to stay on the road.
The revelation comes as the Herald Sun today reports that more than 11,000 years have been lost due to fatal accidents on Victoria's roads already in 2011.
Road safety campaigners have called for the farcical loophole to be immediately overhauled.
"The sooner we can get these idiots off the road the sooner we can start to reduce the carnage," RoadSafe spokesman Andy Milbourne said.
Add a commentVictoria (Australia) - Speed Camera Commissioner a New Avenue of Complaint
Heral Sun
THE man who exposed rampant corruption in Victoria's racing industry is turning his sights on the state's controversial speed and red light camera system.
Former County Court judge Gordon Lewis will today be named Australia's first road safety camera commissioner.
His appointment means motorists who believe they have been wrongly snapped by dodgy cameras will at last have an independent body to complain to.
More than 1.3 million Victorian motorists paid just under $250 million in speed and red light camera fines in 2010-11.
It was Mr Lewis who produced a damning report in 2008 which revealed organised crime had infiltrated the racing industry, that racing had a culture of tolerating criminality and that it was "commonplace" for criminals to use the betting ring to launder money.
Camera issues Mr Lewis is expected to investigate include:
WHETHER faulty fixed speed cameras on EastLink have churned out thousands of dodgy fines.
WHETHER senior traffic cop Trevor Bergman was correct in his recent claim that 4343 motorists were wrongly booked by a mobile speed camera in Kingsclere Ave, Keysborough.
EXAMINING claims by hundreds of motorists that a malfunctioning red turning arrow at the notorious intersection of Nepean Highway and Bay Rd, Cheltenham, resulted in them being snapped and fined when they had done nothing wrong.
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