Are speed cameras out of control

[BMK]

If only it was this simple here...

Caneras out in the open..

I just noticed the cameras on the Ring Roads in Melbourne are being worked on. At first I thought a service, but quickly realised that they were new cameras with hidden cameras being hidden behind over head traffic directional signs.

My wife recently received a speeding fine in the centre of Melbourne city. It is a 60kph zone into the city and then it suddenly changes to 50kph.

She should know that it is 50kph in built up areas....

Having just travelled through a built of area she enters the city out skirts. No 50kph sign. She should just know the speed changes.

Whilst Anne is a fearless shopper she does not often head into Melbourne central for shopping.

Her fine was for travelling at 56kph and booked at 53kph. Yes 3kph over....

Tell her the cameras are to save life. She will argue it is blatant revenue raising.

Her arguement is she is well under the 60kph and just did not know it was now 50kph. And it is not that well signed..

I told her to argue it but she just paid the fine.

These cameras are appearing - or hidden - everywhere.

No wonder the Government is in surplus.

I was told the city camera that picked Anne up raised nearly $1 million dollars last fiscal year....

Mmmm our donation to the Government surplus.

My point - I'm now scanning all the hopeful Politicians, to see if there is one standing on a no speed camera platform.

Still looking for one who will support our sport...

Mmm just my winge for a Saturday...

Been caught lately..:confused:

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$....

[hogster]

When the NT Govt made their deal with the Fed Govt and introduced the state limit here 130, the spin doctors were telling us that we needed protection from ourselves. Not so. they were in overdrive trying to avoid the questions of "how many people kill themselves on open roads exceeding 130" Change subject.
Not long ago we suffered the introduction of a licence points system as well. "To protect us from serial offenders"

Now, strangley enough, after nearly 12 months of the 130kmph limit and with the points system the territory death toll is higher.

It's all about money and nothing else.

PS - Got done by radar in Brisbane years ago doing 72 in a 70 zone. Ate humble pie, yes sir no sir, polite as possible, got the ticket anyway. Dude asked me if I'd take him fishing if he came to Darwin, told him I'd take him shark fishing, too stupid to pick up he'd be swimming around holding a big hook.

[Bob In Ct]

George Orwell knew exactly what he was talking (or writing) about.

Here on the top side of the earth those damned things are all over the place. We also have chips in our cars recording everything that happened in the last 5 minutes. Soon, all cars will have GPS devices so that government can just send us our speeding tickets at the end of the month. I miss the 60s!

Bob

[BMK]

Hogster

...those Queensland cops are not to bright..

We have a major six lane freeway linking Melbourne to Geelong and they have cameras on a number of bridges.

They book at 103kph. Actual is 106kph with a 3kph variation due to camera innacuracy.

Now that is nothing more than a revenue getter. I'll prepared to be convinced otherwise.......

There was a motorist lobby to change the speed to 110kph and the Government Minister argued that it would be dangerous - read we would miss out on fines/income.

The Australian Design Rules allow for a 10% variation in speedometers, yet the Governmenet gives f@*ck all variation other than the 3% due to camera error. Now you see it is only revenue raising.

Mmmm don't me get me started on the fuel tax..

And just thinking about Cops/Police there will not be too many left in Victoria after this current Chief Commissioner finishes.....

Cheers

[BMK]

Bob in Ct

Aaah GPS and those chips..... now I know how my wife knows where I'm at all the time.

Perhaps she had one inserted when I was sleeping..

Yes big brother is watching..not to bad just wish he didn't keep sending those f*#king speed fines...

[boss290cobra]

im right up there with ya bernie upon a recent trip through vic arrived back home 2 weeks later to await a fine in the mail 106kph booked for 104 plus $79 fine and 1 point if they need the money why dont they sell fkn raffle tickets

pi$$ed off

[Rebel1]

The situation wont get better until the general public contest all tickets.

There are many circumstances in which the cameras can give false readings or are inaccurate or are being operated incorrectly.

Six months ago I received an infringement in the mail showing my car doing 70kph in a 60 zone.

The photo was taken head on, at night, from the opposite side of the road, and showed the road was a slight curve to the left. More importantly, it indicated the police vehicle was parked in the public car park of an RSL club alongside a cool room condenser unit.

I was positive I wasn't even doing the 60KPH limit.

Long story short, The officer was unable to advise if the condenser unit fan was operating at the time. Secondly, the camera car had to have been deliberately concealed on private property. Thirdly I was rounding a bend. Lastly, whilst he had the "camera in use" sign was on his side of the road, he had failed to put one on my side of the road.

All against the guidelines for proper operation of the mobile Radar unit. That camera location has not been used since. However, one wonders how many drivers were booked illegally from that location over the time the QPS used it.

Check out the infringement to ensure the police are operating within both the device manufacturers operating guide and to their own guidelines.

[BMK]

Rebel1,

You may remember the story about the little Datsun 180 sedan, that was booked on the Ring Road in Melbourne for doing a speed it was not even capable of.

It became a 'Current Affairs' type story with a race car driver attempting to reach the alledged speed.

The car and the race driver could not achieve the alledged speed.

So the authorities withdrew the infringement.

Later they shut down all the Ring Road cameras for repair. Bugger to all those that were booked just prior with faulty cameras.

The State Government was forced into re funding fines etc...

They are up and running again. With even more cameras as I witnessed going up.

Mmmmm perhaps to make up for lost revenue.

I remember an expert saying that the cameras are set at ambient tempareture and they could vary with the temperature...

No wonder you follow people down the Freeways with the foot on and off the brake.

I still subscribe to warning oncomming motorists with my flashing my headlights. At one time I was told this was illegal - but a thorough check of Road Traffic regulations failed to find the relevant section.

Police Summary Offences Act also has a 'Hinder Police" clause, but that would be a long - bow.

So I'll keep on flashing when I see the mobile speed cameras...

[Rebel1]

Bernie, there also is this one:
http://au.todaytonight.yahoo.com/art...-speed-cameras

Given that admission it seems there is little "following of the rules" by police forces. Hence my advice to contest. ie. There is nearly something you can catch them on.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for catching dangerous drivers as I'm sure you are, but this money grab where observed speeds are only a little over the limit is just crazy.

Have a look at the story on this site about the Sydney Lane Cove tunnel outrage. The Minister and the police knew they were acting illegally.

http://www.speedingfineconsultants.com/

As we noted on another thread.....Governments and bureaucrats can't be trusted to act in a lawful manner.

[Shelby400]

Bernie

I too once believed in warning oncoming traffic by flashing my lights until I was done for using my high beam in a built up area.

Brett

[SantaFe66]

There is hope......

Here in New Mexico, specifically Albuquerque, the mayor instituted red light cameras, initially claiming it was for our safety, of course, then added speed detection to the intersections and subsequently (proudly, I might add) raising over 5 million bucks in a short period.

He's now running for higher political office and is doing a "study" to evaluate the success of the cameras since the public just generally thinks he's a fool for doing the camera thing. We are pretty sure he thinks those cameras are a political liability now and he could lose the election as a result. I expect the "study" to determine that the cameras did nothing but fatten the coffers of government and didn't reduce accidents at all (in fact, rear-ender's increased as folks slammed on the brakes to avoid the $100 initial fine or subsequent one of much more). We also think that he had the yellow caution period shortened to further increase the flow of money. By the way, the fines were considered civil penalties, not criminal, so they didn't count as points against your record and couldn't be appealed. That says something about his real motivation.

Liberalism is a disease. They really don't want to help the public be safe when it's not in their best personal interest.

I don't care what this guy does, he's not getting my vote and therein lies your ultimate victory. Politicians always want to be reelected.

[Bryan Wilson]

I had to fight a wrongfull prosecution when the money machine got it wrong.
Here is the letter we sent them.
To Whom It May Concern:
Re Penalty notice Obligation No 0513876043
We wish to dispute this penalty notice as no offence took place at the time date and place as listed on the penalty notice.
As we are regular travellers of this rout we are well aware of the speed limits through the town of Trafalgar in Victoria.
This is a four lane highway with two lanes going east and two lanes going west.
At 8:58am on the day in question we were travelling east towards Taralgon where the speed limits go from 110kph down to 80kph then down to 70kph then up to 90kph then back to 110kph at no time along that road through Trafalgar does the speed limit drop below 70kph in the east bound lanes.

However the speed limit does drop to 60kph through the town of Trafalgar in the westerly direction heading toward Melbourne.
Maybe your camera operator was not aware that the speed limits are different on the east and west sides of the highway.
I have videoed the road clearly showing the posted speed limit signs and will present this as evidence to the magistrate should this matter have to go to court.
Hoping this matter can be resolved without any further aggravation,
Yours truly,

I hope someone got their arse reamed. The camera operator must have realised something was wrong when he was getting every car
Cheers,
Bryan

[letsboogie351]

Sorry Bernie et al

only last week i deleted from my computer the (official police) complete list of Victorian speed cameras and mobile speed trap sites. But as we all know there is no "safety" camera, just a cash cow!

Doug

[Ron61]

SantaFe,

Here they are installing the darn cameras and have decided to give no leeway for cars that are just at the intersection when the light changes to yellow. Go through and get a ticket, slam on the brakes and cause a big pile up behind you plus getting knocked through the intersection and get a ticket that costs even more for causing an accident. Everyone is just waiting until all the cameras are working and the first bit pile up occurs so they can file lawsuits. But at least the city said it was done to raise money as so many businesses have closed down the city council can no longer afford their normal 3 times a year pay raises.

Ron

[Dimi]

Hi all

The one that has me worried is the new vehicle identification camera traps.

They have two cameras mounted about a kilometer apart and as your car passes the first one it is recorded and timed to the second one.
If your travel time between the two cameras is too fast they can calculate your speed and you are automatically booked.

They have one of these set up on the Sydney to Gosford freeway.

I have seen drivers slow down when driving past the first camera then speed up and again slow down past the second camera thinking they were safe but not realising they were being timed between the two cameras and then getting booked.

Be afraid - be very afraid.

Dimi

[BMK]

Mmmm seen the cars go onto the wrong side of the road to avoid the road tapes that trigger the camera.

Or us the emergency stopping lane to avoid the tapes...

[Baz]

Originally Posted by Bernie Knight

Hogster

...those Queensland cops are not to bright..

We have a major six lane freeway linking Melbourne to Geelong and they have cameras on a number of bridges.

They book at 103kph. Actual is 106kph with a 3kph variation due to camera innacuracy.

Now that is nothing more than a revenue getter. I'll prepared to be convinced otherwise.......

There was a motorist lobby to change the speed to 110kph and the Government Minister argued that it would be dangerous - read we would miss out on fines/income.

The Australian Design Rules allow for a 10% variation in speedometers, yet the Governmenet gives f@*ck all variation other than the 3% due to camera error. Now you see it is only revenue raising.

Mmmm don't me get me started on the fuel tax..

And just thinking about Cops/Police there will not be too many left in Victoria after this current Chief Commissioner finishes.....

Cheers

I would like to take this opportunity of thanking Victoria for taking Christine Nixon off us.

About the only thing she done of note while she was here was to permit the gay and lesbian police to march in the Gay Mardi Gras whilst they were on duty. What an initiative.

I wonder if she has made an arrest since she's been in Victoria because she never made one in NSW.

Thanks again Victoria and we don't want her back.


Baz.

[letsboogie351]

Top this for a speeding ticket


Two British traffic patrol officers from North Berwick were involved in
an unusual incident while checking for speeding motorists on the A-1 Great
North Road.

The officers (who are not named) were testing a new hand-held radar
device which locks on to approaching vehicles and tracks them over a
distance to check the speed. They aimed it at the top of a hill so as to
pick up vehicles coming over the crest and was surprised when the speed was
recorded at over 300mph (its maximum designed capability) The machine then
stopped working and the officers were not able to reset it.

The radar had in fact latched on to a NATO Tornado fighter jet coming in
over the North Sea, which was engaged in a low-flying exercise over the
Border district. Back at police headquarters the chief constable fired off
a stiff complaint to the RAF Liaison office.

Back came the reply in true laconic RAF style. "Thank you for your
message, which allows us to complete the file on this incident. You
may be interested to know that the tactical computer in the Tornado had
automatically locked on to your 'hostile radar equipment' and sent a
jamming signal back to it. Furthermore, the Sidewinder
Air-to-ground missiles aboard the fully-armed aircraft had also locked on to
the target. Fortunately the pilot flying the Tornado responded to
the missile status alert intelligently and was able to override the
automatic protection system before the missile was launched".

[Blair]

Lucky I have a fiberglass Cobra replica and not one of those genuine metal bodied Cobras because we all know that the radar beams actually pass through fiberglass, therefore not bouncing back to the radar gun, which inturn means I never get a ticket in the Cobra!

How do you like those apples Rebel1?

[sambo]

I tend to agree with everyone on the way speed cameras are used in Victoria. HOWEVER, we've just had a rather interesting coincidence happen on the roads. Yesterday while out in Moorabbin doing some shopping we encountered a 200SX on personalised plates being driven erratically, with the driver passing us 3 times in 15 minutes - but that's not the coincidence. Moments ago he passed my partner on the SE Fwy doing well over the limit, and she just phoned (hands free of course) to say that he has come unstuck in the rain. Apparently he managed to turn the car around and smash into the guard rail near the Warrigul Rd overpass. He seems to be ok but the car is trashed.

I used to own one of those cars and they are very tail happy, particularly in the wet like it is today. We're just thankful this d1ckhead didn't take us out in the process and I hope that the police report shows excessive speed as the cause and that he gets more than a wrap on the knuckles.

I wholeheartedly agree that 3km over the limit is not a serious offense, but this whole incident has reminded us just why we have speed limits. Now if only they could invent a d1ckhead camera, I'd be happy with that.