New South Wales News Articles
Digital Camera Photos No Proof
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Speed Camera Vandals
The Daily Telegraph
SPEED cameras across the state are being pelted with rocks, hit with sticks, set on fire, covered in graffiti, shot at by guns and smeared by eggs as angry motorists increasingly resort to violence.
Read Full Story.
One slightly used speed camera
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Death Traps
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A HORROR stretch of the Bruce Highway that has claimed dozens of lives is again in the spotlight, rated by a report as one of Australia's worst black-spot areas. Read Full Article.
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New South Wales - NSW police are using speed detection equipment that one radar expert claims make errors 60% of the time. Watch the video of police using the radar on city roads. Trouble is, the radar is only designed for use on straight country roads. See for yourself.
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A Current Affair Speed Cameras: Radars Inaccurate in NSW
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A radar expert claims the Silver Eagle Radar in use in Australia make mistakes 60% of the time. 19 June 2005
ACA show video footage of the Silver Eagle Radar system being used in a questionable manner by police in the metro area in NSW. The trouble is that the Silver Eagle system is only suitable for straight stretches on country roads.
Watch the video or listen to the audio only version. Free movie software from RealPlayer
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| A radar expert claims that weather conditions such as rain and wind or a police officer mobile phone can cause wrong readings.
This system can even wrongly evaluate its own speed in the police vehicle and add the difference on to your speed.
This radar system has been withdrawn from use in Queensland and Western Australia due to concerns about its accuracy.
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Speed camera upset: RTA holds firm
David Braithwaite - Sydney Morning Herald
August 24, 2006
Speeding fines may come to sudden halt
Poll: Will you try to get a refund?
AdvertisementThe Roads and Traffic Authority has warned motorists not to "jump to any conclusions" after a judge ruled that a speed camera photo was not valid evidence.
The court decision yesterday could render every speed camera fine issued by the RTA since 1999 invalid, after the ruling that their photos were meaningless.
The decision in the Sydney District Court by Judge John Nicholson, SC, could cost the State Government hundreds of millions of dollars, said Dennis Miralis, the solicitor who won the case.
The authority had sought to convict his client, David Baldock, of Castlecrag, of driving at 93kmh in an 80kmh zone on the M5 at Bardwell Park in June last year, Mr Miralis said.
But Judge Nicholson ruled that the photograph provided by the authority was not valid evidence.
Judge Nicholson found that to be given weight as evidence the digital cameras that took the photos had to be calibrated every day, Mr Miralis said. The solicitor added that he believed the authority calibrated its cameras once a year.
He said every person convicted on such evidence since 1999 - when digital cameras came in - had been improperly convicted.
"The biggest problem the RTA face is how they're going to run these prosecutions in the future," Mr Miralis said.
However, the RTA this morning stood by its speed camera system, saying it believed the decision did not set a precedent, and it might appeal the decision.
"Motorists can still expect to be caught and fined for speeding above the speed limit - it is too early to jump to any conclusions about yesterday's court ruling," a spokesman said.
"This decision applies only to the specific circumstances of the case.
"Our current legal advice is that this judgement relates to an evidentiary issue in terms of the appellants evidence being accepted as proof he did not speed - not the camera testing regime."
Speed measurement devices were "re-certified" once a year and tested at least every six months, while the cameras were inspected every 30 days, he said.
Mr Miralis said he would ask the Attorney-General's department to hold an inquiry into how the authority's lawyers had conducted their court cases.
The authority said its cameras were accurate and denied the court's decision had set a precedent. Every camera was subject to "comprehensive" tests, a spokesman said. The authority would consider an appeal.
In March Mr Miralis won an appeal in the Supreme Court against the authority over a speed camera photo that did not have the proper "security indicators". The court overturned his client's $75 fine.
In February the authority lost another appeal when the Supreme Court said a speed camera fine had wrongly stipulated which lane the motorist was using.
There are 113 fixed speed cameras in NSW. Last year $57.3 million worth of speed camera fines were issued, up from $50.9 million in 2004 and $41.6 million in 2003.
Speeding fines may come to sudden halt
Edmund Tadros
August 24, 2006
EVERY speed camera fine issued by the Roads and Traffic Authority since 1999 may be invalid, after a judge ruled the photos used to convict drivers were meaningless.
The decision in the Sydney District Court by Judge John Nicholson, SC, could cost the State Government hundreds of millions of dollars, said Dennis Miralis, the solicitor who won the case.
The authority had sought to convict his client, David Baldock, of Castlecrag, of driving at 93kmh in an 80kmh zone on the M5 at Bardwell Park in June last year, Mr Miralis said. But Judge Nicholson ruled that the photograph provided by the authority was not valid evidence.
He found that to be given weight as evidence the digital cameras that took the photos had to be calibrated every day. The authority calibrated its cameras once a year, Mr Miralis said.
He said every person convicted on such evidence since 1999 - when digital cameras came in - had been improperly convicted.
"The biggest problem the RTA face is how they're going to run these prosecutions in the future," Mr Miralis said.
He said he would ask the Attorney-General's department to hold an inquiry into how the authority's lawyers had conducted their court cases.
The authority said its cameras were accurate and denied the court's decision had set a precedent. Every camera was subject to "comprehensive" tests, a spokesman said. The authority would consider an appeal.
In March Mr Miralis won an appeal in the Supreme Court against the authority over a speed camera photo that did not have the proper "security indicators". The court overturned his client's $75 fine.
In February the authority lost another appeal when the Supreme Court said a speed camera fine had wrongly stipulated which lane the motorist was using.
There are 113 fixed speed cameras in NSW. Last year $57.3 million worth of speed camera fines were issued, up from $50.9 million in 2004 and $41.6 million in 2003.
Camera Vandals
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by Kelvin Bissett
Investigations Editor
The Daily Telegraph
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New South Wales
October 17, 2005
SPEED cameras across the state are being pelted with rocks, hit with sticks, set on fire, covered in graffiti, shot at by guns and smeared by eggs as angry motorists increasingly resort to violence.
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The speed camera attacks come as latest figures show the devices reaped a record $54.1 million in fines in the past 12 months.
In the past two years there have been 74 instances of vandalism, leading to damage bills from a few hundred dollars to $110,000.
The Roads and Traffic Authority has been forced to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on security surveillance equipment at 34 speed camera sites.
Most of the recorded attacks have caused damage in the region of hundreds of dollars.
But in one instance at Queanbeyan on November 11 last year, $110,671 worth of damage was caused to the Lanyon Drive camera as saboteurs set it on fire.
In July last year at Ourimbah, on the Central Coast, the camera cabinet was forced open and the contents were stolen, causing $6651 worth of damage in an elaborate strategy to ensure evidence for a fine was destroyed.
Despite spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on security surveillance equipment, the devices are still being attacked.
But in some cases, individuals have simply attacked the security cameras first, putting them out of action before moving to the main camera.
Meanwhile, the state's 109 fixed speed cameras snapped more than 1100 motorists a day on the state's roads in the year to June 30, Office of State Revenue documents, obtained under Freedom of Information, show.
The cameras issued a total of $54,069,259 in infringements in the past year, more than $1 million up on the previous record set in 2003-04.
The documents show 403,047 fines were collected with some 14 sites around the state responsible for more than $1 million or more worth of infringements.
School zone cameras – which enforce a lower 40km/h speed limit between 8am and 9.30am and 2.30pm and 4pm on school days – are particularly busy catching speeding motorists.
The school zone camera in Macpherson St, Mosman, is the most profitable in NSW, capturing an average 66 drivers a day outside Middle Harbour Public School.
Its $2.979 million from nearly 25,000 fines is $420,000 more than in 2003-04.
The second most lucrative site is in the Eastern Distributor tunnel, pulling in $2.394 million.
The twin school zone cameras on the Princes Highway, Kogarah, also do strong business but have slowed down last year as drivers wised up.
The northbound and southbound carriageway cameras generate a combined $4.247 million, about $2.5 million down on the previous period.
But there is good news for motorists.
This latest record for speed camera revenue is unlikely to be beaten for some time due to reduced fines that took effect from July 1.
The State Government cut the fine for exceeding the speed limit by less than 15km/h to $75 earlier this year.
On the vandalism issue, Roads Minister Joe Tripodi last night urged anyone witnessing speed camera vandalism to contact police.
Mr Tripodi said the gradual installation of security surveillance equipment – now extended to 37 sites – means there has been a reduction in serious vandalism incidents.
He said attacking speed cameras was a crime.
"I have a message for would-be vandals – there is now a greater chance of you being caught and prosecuted," Mr Tripodi said.
The fines come after a torrid year for the cameras on other fronts.
In August, the State Government admitted that a software error affecting the security codes had rendered hundreds of fines invalid.
In another setback, a camera on Spit Hill, near Mosman, was removed earlier this after the RTA admitted it had erroneously recorded 13 buses speeding.
NRMA motoring and services general manager Brett Gale said the record fines "highlight the need for all motorists to stick to the speed limit, especially in school zones".
He said 75 per cent of NRMA members support speed cameras, providing they are in areas with a speed-related crash history and are well sign-posted.
Death traps
STUART SCOTT 05jun05
A HORROR stretch of the Bruce Highway that has claimed dozens of lives is again in the spotlight, rated by a report as one of Australia's worst black-spot areas.
The notorious 50km stretch between Yandina and Gympie was the scene of 30 fatal crashes – and 192 crashes that produced casualties – in the 1998-2002 period studied for the national survey.
Its horror toll has continued to climb, with three fatal accidents at one spot, near the town of Federal, in the past six months.
In the most recent tragedy, Yeppoon paramedic Zac Leto, 48, and his three-year-old daughter Ashley were killed when his car crashed head-on with a truck on May 11.
The horror section of road is put in the highest-risk category in the Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP) report released by the Australian Automobile Association, the national body of motoring clubs such as the RACQ.
According to the report, more than 42 per cent of the rural national highway system in Queensland was in the worst-possible high-risk category.
None of the similar roads in New South Wales and Victoria was classified high-risk.
In Queensland, another 38 per cent of these roads were listed as medium-high risk.
The survey weighs up the accident danger on each section of the national highway system, studying "collective risk" (casualty crashes per kilometre) and "individual risk" (crashes per vehicle kilometre travelled, taking traffic density into account – "This is the risk rate for individual drivers," the report says).
It found that the Yandina-Gympie section of the Bruce Highway in the Sunshine Coast hinterland was one of only two stretches of national highway in Australia that received the worst-possible high-risk rating in both categories.
The other spot was a short section in Western Australia.
Since the study was made, some of the Bruce Highway in the horror stretch has been upgraded.
The RACQ executive manager of traffic and safety, John Wikman, said the crash report would be updated annually and 1999-2003 results would be released this year.
"The first step is to raise awareness of the level of safety of actual roads," he said.
The AusRAP team reported: "The collective and individual risk measures are most useful when used together to tell a combined story."
It said the aim of the study was to highlight sections of road "where improvements are warranted, but also where road users may need to take extra care to minimise their risk until road improvements are made".
Meanwhile, the National Motorists Association of Australia has criticised government delays in publishing road fatality statistics.
"State governments appear to be reluctant to release unflattering road statistics," the NMAA said.
"Only some states or territories now produce regular updates or reports and some states have given up completely or their statistics were impossible to find," NMAA research officer Kim Jupe said.
Spit speed camera axed to 'end uncertainty'
By Jonathan Pearlman and AAP
May 3, 2005
The State Government should check every speed camera in the state to demonstrate that the cameras are reliable and not merely revenue raising devices, the Opposition said today.
The Government said one of two fixed speed cameras on Sydney's Spit Hill would be removed to end motorists' uncertainty about being fined twice for the same speeding offence.
The first of the two cameras located south of the Spit Bridge would be relocated to the F3 Freeway between the Hawkesbury River Bridge and Mount White, said the Minister for Roads, Michael Costa.
The move would coincide with lifting the speed limit on that stretch of the F3 from 90kmh to 100kmh.
"The changes to Spit Hill and the F3 will mean better, safer driving conditions for motorists on these two major routes," Mr Costa said.
The Roads and Traffic Authority said motorists had raised concerns following a Local Court decision in March 2004 to dismiss one of two speeding offences committed by a motorist, caught on both the Spit Hill cameras.
Moving the cameras would end uncertainty, Mr Costa said.
The shadow minister for roads, Andrew Stoner, said the removal of the camera was an admission by Mr Costa that the cameras were unreliable "cash cows" rather than safety devices.
"It is not good enough for Mr Costa to announce the removal of just one speed camera," Mr Stoner said. "What is required is a statewide audit into the location and accuracy of all cameras across the state."
Mr Stoner said an audit would demonstrate the Government's commitment to road safety.
"Labor raises more than $1 million a week from speed cameras and motorists rightly feel that cameras are not always located according to road safety measures.
"If he is fair dinkum he will get on with the complete job in relation to the state's speed cameras ... and he will support the Opposition's calls for an audit of fixed speed cameras," Mr Stoner told reporters.
Mr Costa was not available for comment.
