Easter was a money spinner for the Queensland Goverment with hundreds of motorists caught by the new under cover hidden speed cameras.
Speed cameras in Queensland returned $7.26 million dollars last year which has fueled the goverments appetite for easy cash. With the new hidden speed cameras, this revenue stream is set to double.
Speed cameras set just 100m apart on Sunshine Coast
Kathleen Donaghey
From: The Sunday Mail (Qld)
POLICE have been accused of double-dipping after a speed van was deployed 100m from a fixed speed camera to catch unsuspecting motorists. The van was stationed on Nicklin Way at Warana on the Sunshine Coast last week, in front of a fixed camera introduced in February.
Police have confirmed they rotate speed vans to sites within metres of the Sunshine Coast's two fixed speed cameras. The camera on the Sunshine Motorway near Mountain Creek is shouldered by two speed van deployment sites, about 800m in either direction. While Gold Coast police say they don't double up with speed vans near the two fixed cameras on the Gold Coast Highway, Inspector Darren Soppa said police targeted those areas with hand-held radars.
"People know where the fixed cameras are and slow down and speed up," he said.
"Sometimes we do tactical deployment for that purpose." The practice has been branded double-dipping by National Motorists Association Australia spokesman Michael Lane.
"It's not legitimate to be given two tickets for the one offence, that is beyond the pale," Mr Lane said.
However police said it was unlikely motorists would be issued two fines.
Four speedsters were detected by the van at Warana on Thursday.
Camera system still not in use QUEENSLAND'S first point-to-point speed camera system is still unoperational despite being installed in March.
The cameras on the Bruce Highway between Wild Horse Mountain and the Caloundra turn-off were announced as part of an arsenal of new measures in the State Government's road safety plan.
The system captures digital images of all passing vehicles and calculates the speed travelled over the distance between two points.
However, police are still testing the technology to avoid a repeat of the debacle in which 1100 speeding drivers caught by new digital cameras in the Clem7 tunnel had to be let off. A police spokeswoman said there was no set date to begin operation.
"Full testing and acceptance processes must be completed before any cameras can be used for enforcement action," she said.
Queensland - Logan Police Going Laser Hi-Tech
Queensland Australia - THE campaign against speeding motorists has taken a further step with Logan police employing greater use of micro-digicam technology.
The device is very similar to the hand-held laser speed detection unit, with an extra camera unit attached. Logan district traffic branch officer-in-charge Acting Senior Sergeant Paul Tabrett said the device was very effective because it allowed officers to detect speeding vehicles from a safe and secluded position. (Doublespeak - What he meant was from a "sneaky dirty rotten, hiding position!")
“Once a speeding motorist has been identified an image is then sent to waiting officers further down the road,’’ he said. “That same image can also be recorded as evidence if needed. It is a very effective deterrent because it is not obvious at all.’’ (Doublespeak - "Yeah, you shoud see the stunned look on their faces, its a real hoot!")
Last Saturday Logan traffic police booked more than 60 motorists in two hours along the Mt Lindesay Highway near Browns Plains. Snr Sgt Tabrett said there were plans to use the unit more, along with unmarked speed cameras throughout Logan. “The message is clear to drivers - slow down,’’ he said.
READY AIM... FIRE!!!
More speed cameras is 'just revenue raising': QPU
By Natalie Poyhonen ABC News
Updated Mon Mar 1, 2010
The State Government plans to roll out
digital speed cameras as part of a road safety campaign. (ABC News: Paul
Robinson)
The Queensland Police Union (QPU) says increasing the number of
speed cameras being deployed across the state is simply an exercise in revenue
raising. QPU president Ian Leavers says it will not lead to a reduction in the state's
road toll. It is the first time the QPU has publicly made such a suggestion.
The State Government plans to roll out digital speed cameras as part of a
road safety campaign, but Mr Leavers says increasing police patrols would be a
more effective measure. "Speed cameras won't catch drink drivers, they won't catch unroadworthy
vehicles, unlicensed vehicles, unregistered vehicles or those who are driving,
talking on their mobile phones and all those other offences and dangerous
driving," he said.
"They won't catch that - they will just catch those who are speeding." A spokeswoman for Police Minister Neil Roberts says two digital speed cameras
are being trialled in Ashgrove and Calamvale in Brisbane this year, but the
number of devices across Queensland will not change.
Premier Anna Bligh says all the revenue goes into road safety
initiatives. "Wherever we've seen a reduction in the road toll, it's a combination of two
things - good information to people through campaigns about the consequences of
dangerous driving on our roads, and strong law enforcement, whether it's speed
cameras or random breath testing," she said.
"There's a really easy way to avoid paying any revenue to the State
Government for speeding and that's to stay within the speed limit."
Brisbane's New Tunnel to have 8 Speed Cameras
25th Nov 2009
BRISBANE'S new cross-river tunnel will be lined with eight fixed speed cameras over its 6.8km length.
The tunnel will account for almost half of the fixed speed camera sites across the entire state once it is operational.
Motoring groups said it was a case of ''gross overkill'' and accused the State Government of contradicting its own camera policy, insisting locations were supposed to be chosen on historical crash data.
Police Minister Neil Roberts yesterday said the cameras would help enforce the 80km/h speed limit and reduce the significant speed-related crash risks a tunnel posed.
''Crashes in tunnels have the potential to be particularly hazardous due to the enclosed nature of the environment,'' Mr Roberts said. ''Fixed speed cameras have been proven to raise drivers' awareness of speed limits and ultimately slow motorists down.''
However, RACQ spokeswoman Lynda Schekoske said the motoring group supported cameras only where there was a significant crash history.
''Eight cameras in six or so kilometres seems somewhat excessive,'' she said. ''We would certainly think that having cameras there for enforcement reasons from the outset would not be very appropriate.''
The move is likely to provide a new revenue bounty for the cash-strapped Government, with about 4000 drivers a month caught at the state's first three fixed camera sites last year.
Mr Roberts said the Clem7 cameras would be placed in four locations in pairs and on each side of the road and would be clearly signed, like the state's nine above-ground cameras. Only six of those above-ground cameras are operational but the other three will be brought online in coming weeks.
The tunnel cameras will be digital, unlike the previous wet film models.
QUT Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety researcher Mark King yesterday said while the move was unusual, the cameras were appropriate given the unique nature of the tunnel.
''We have had some high-profile nasty crashes in tunnels and when it does happen, it can be quite bad,'' he said.
The tunnel, linking Bowen Hills north of the Brisbane CBD to Woolloongabba in the south, is expected to open in the first few months of next year.
The cameras will mean a driver could lose their licence and cop an $800 fine in a matter of minutes if they drove through the four sites at 93km/h.
National Motorists Association Australia (NMAA) spokesman Michael Lane, a fierce critic of speed cameras, said the tunnel plan was ridiculous.
''It's gross overkill,'' he said. ''I assume it's a reasonably straight tunnel. You don't need four in each direction. That is a ridiculous waste of money.
''What if someone goes through there and their speedometer is faulty, they get four tickets and they lose their licence?''
But late today, a spokesman for Police Minister Neil Roberts' office clarified that, at worst, a speeding motorist could be hit with two tickets.
New Digital Cameras will Getcha!!
6th January 2010
LET’S call her Jane, shall we?
She has been nicked three times for speeding this past month so she might have good reason for not wanting to be identified.
What’s worrying for the rest of us is that maybe in the not too distant future more and more of us will run foul of the law over speeding offences.
New digital speed cameras are to be introduced mid-year which will enable the “tolerance” figure in the policing of speed limits to be lowered.
The government might already be preparing for the introduction of the new cameras with a blitz on speeding. This week Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said more speed enforcement could save lives.
He said the widespread introduction of speed cameras had reduced road deaths in recent years.
“I genuinely believe that we could save 50 to 100 lives here, each year, if we could focus heavily on speed enforcement,” Mr Atkinson said.
The new digital equipment will replace the outdated wet-film cameras.
In Victoria the “tolerance” threshold has been lowered to 3km/h, which means drivers doing 63km/h in a 60km/h zone could be fined.
Police and the state government do not publicly acknowledge a tolerance figure, but many drivers believe that they are safe during 10km/h over the limit in a 100km/h zone.
“Jane” said that until a month a go her driving record had been clean.
Then she was booked twice for doing 70km/h in a 60km/h zone and once for doing eight or nine kilometres over the limit on the highway in an 100km/h speed zone.
These moments of distraction have placed her licence at risk. She can’t afford to have another traffic fine. She said the lower speed limits were a worry.
“Getting booked for two or three kilometres over the speed limit is a bit extreme – is it just a revenue raiser?” she said.
“It’s not hard to go over if you are coming down a hill or if you get a little distracted.
“I think five per cent over the signed limit should be tolerated.”
QLD Police Go "Deep! Deep! Undercover" in Old Unmarked Vans - Yawn....
January 04, 2010 11:00pm
OLD vans that have to be made roadworthy are set to be in the first fleet of covert speed cameras rolled out on Queensland roads.
The reconditioned wrecks will be part of a varied group of vehicles used in the stealth assault on speed. Police will handpick their fleet and expect to turn an old van worth a few thousand dollars into a vehicle that could reap tens of thousands in fines.
(Photo: Smile, you're on hidden camera: A van of the type Queensland police will use to book speeding cars.)
Older vehicles must be restored to roadworthy status, rewired and fitted with airconditioning and powerful batteries. None of the covert cameras will bear police markings.
"If it's going to be a covert operation there will be no signage at all because that would defeat the purpose of it," Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said yesterday.
"Covert would be truly covert and that would mean anywhere, anytime, any vehicle."
The Courier-Mail, in conjunction with police and the State Government, yesterday launched the "Brake the Habit" campaign aimed at reducing the road toll in 2010.
The Government has already announced plans to boost its anti-speeding strategy, and the first unmarked cameras will start snapping lead-footed motorists from as early as June.
Police have trialled three unmarked vehicles, taken from the existing speed camera fleet of 30 vans. Police Minister Neil Roberts said up to 30 per cent of speed camera hours would be clocked by unmarked vans.
"If we are serious about reducing the road toll, we have to dramatically change driver behaviour," Mr Roberts said.
"Human factors account for over 90 per cent of road fatalities. Increasing the chance and uncertainty of detection is a powerful motivator in changing driver behaviour."
Queensland's road toll has been below 300 only once in 55 years. In 1998, 279 people died in the first full year speed cameras were deployed.
Queensland is following the Victorian method after that state brought its road toll to its lowest level since records began in 1952.
Victorian roads have been policed by covert cameras for more than 20 years. The cameras have been housed in vans, utes and sedans.
Victoria's top traffic cop said the devices had been one of the most significant factors in their reduced toll. "We don't announce where they are or where they're going to be," Deputy Commissioner Ken Lay said. "The research is very, very clear right across the world that if you drop the speed level, you cut the level of road trauma."
Mr Lay said Victoria's fixed cameras were rarely signed for motorists but a website listed full details of all camera locations.
Mr Atkinson conceded it was possible Queensland could move towards the Victorian model where all mobile speed cameras operated covertly.
"It's up to us to show in the course of this year and perhaps beyond that, what's working and what isn't working," Mr Atkinson said.
