Speed Camera's...

[Bent8]

Okay I have a little theory here that I’d like to share with you all.

Speed camera’s, nearly everyone hates them and they hardly save lives…true??...cops hiding behind bus stops lasing cars going 5km over the limit down a small hill…revenue raising at it's best if you ask me.

Now, everytime I go out on Marmion Ave (80km/h) most drivers seem to be happy sitting on 60km/h (maybe 70 on a good day) and I usually end up passing these slow movers on the left lane.

My understanding is that most people are afraid of being flashed for going 3km/h over the limit so they play it safe and drive 10-15km/h below the limit...I don't have a problem with that unless I'm stuck behind them and there's a bulldozer holding up the left lane

This sort of attitude just adds to traffic congestion, road rage and ultimately to road accidents. So in a sense, when these speed cameras/handhelds aren't flashing drivers for going a few k's over the limit, they're indirectly causing traffic accidents…no wonder the road toll increases every year (or maybe we should blame population growth for that).

But of course if we didn't have speed camera's, everyone would be losing control of their cars and ploughing into stuff so it's kinda of a catch 22 situation...

That's my theory...thanks for reading and your opinions are most welcome.

[chevypower]

I think you're preaching to the converted here... the only solution is to form an army to destroy the undemocratic Speed Camera regime with some seriously high powered ammo

[Rock ape]

I HATE speed camera's. HATE HATE HATE. Just want your money.

[Redrum]

I am no fan of speed cameras either. I don't think you will find many fans here. As for the second part of your topic, in regard to cops sitting behind bus stops pinging people for going 5km over the limit on hills, I think this is far fetched. Yes , there are some cops who would give their own mother a speeding fine but I Know the majority are quite reasonable.

[asusdragon]

most of my speeding fine are for 6-7kms over and one on a 100kph freeway got pinged doing 106kms. that was by mutlinovas never been done by a laser gun before,

[Bowdo]

One of my mates from geelong got flashed on the way home from work one day. He's a fairly mild-mannered guy, but something inside must have snapped. He ended up destroying the camera box with a golf club, with the civilian camera operator 'fearing for his life' I think the papers put it

He ended up dobbing himself in, but still it must have felt great...

[V3RSAC3]

i just wrote a major report on this ... whether it was a part of revnue rising or not ... i don't know ... but i made up my conclussion to get more marks from my teacher who is biases hahaa

[normxb]

I reckon the biggest deterrent to speeding is a "Nice White car with Blue checks up the sides and a Big sign on the roof " .

If the Gov't is "really serious" about keeping the road toll down , this will do more than a little "$1m Box on a Pole" . : : (But then , where would the pollies get their pay)

This will stop a lot of Road-Rage & Hooning ? etc. but I don't think anything will stop accidents completely because there will always be "the Human Factor" & traffic congestion is a fact of life in the city , I'm afraid .

After living/driving in Sydney for 20 yrs and now living/driving in the country , there is NO comparison

City Peak Hour = 3-4 hours
Country , Mmm , well , we have "Peak Minute"

Something must be done , we don't want to see Numbers like the 70's , I think the National toll those day's was around the 1,600 - 1,700 area .

Norm

[DOC]

Another vote for nothing more than revenue raising, it has made driving boring and crapola.

Redrum i know most guys are good, but there are the exceptions, coming into town the other day a bike copper was nearly hanging out of a tree he was so tucked into the bush on his bike, but i suppose it's his job and people need to understand that the poor guy on duty is not to blame he is just doing his job, the govt's dirty work.

I also belive with Bent8 that these things are causing more greif than good on the roads, he govt spins crap like were saving lives, well i put forward sack the lot of them because on the other hand they have a budget and predict rises in revenue, this only leads me to think they must be stupid at their jobs.

Which is not the case revenue raising is big business these days and a money spinning giant, the govt knows this and therefore spends more money on new equipment in the name of saving lives.

its all crap and there will be more speed cameras burnt to the ground as people get more peed off, i for one will say openly that as much as the govt goes overboard with their crap rules i will may also take my own counter measures to evade them regardless of any penalties i may face, i don't mind playing fair but it's a darn joke at the moment nothing less. ( every 2 seconds watching a speedo to see if your 3 k over is rubbish.

O and yes i was was told you can pay this at your local post office, a well oiled cash cow that won't be catching this puppy again.

[Pedro]

Originally Posted by DOC

.... its all crap and there will be more speed cameras burnt to the ground as people get more peed off ....

There's a well organised group in the UK who do just that and post pictures of burnt, shot, and blown up cameras on a web site. I tried google but can't find it, perhaps someone else can find it and post it up.

[Casper]

The facts on road statistics in Victoria clearly show its revenue and only revenue.
http://www.aufalcon.com/cgi-bin/inde...f=articles/tac

On a side note.. I've never had an unfair ticket from an actual police officer though. Most police wouldn't even give you a second glance unless you are traveling at least 10kph over the limit or doing something stupid anyhow.

[Falc'man]

No I love speed cameras they are wonderful devices. They saved my life (twice)
in the past month without me realising it. You see, I was traveling along the lovely
Hume without noticing the NEW Speed Camera Sign amongst all the sign pollution and
got done for doing 70 in a 60 zone (twice). I'm so happy I can't believe it. I'm still
alive and so happy that our government really looks after us and hopefully, with a
couplamore fines like that I'll be without a job. And on the dole and milking it back
off'em the ^$&^#!@!$#$(^%E%*@%

Edit: I must add, whilst driving at such ultra high velocity, I was dodging through
traffic without indicators like a was hangin for a sh).(t so I got away with it easy
I reckon. /sarcasm off

[LTDHO]

7.5 hours to post in a camera thread, Casper thats slow for you.

We all know the real fact that the camera/radar is to make money and not save lives, whilst the true effects of road fatalities go un-governed.

[Casper]

Originally Posted by LTDHO

7.5 hours to post in a camera thread, Casper thats slow for you.

We all know the real fact that the camera/radar is to make money and not save lives, whilst the true effects of road fatalities go un-governed.

Takes about that long for me to regain control of my rage after the mention of these unconstitutional and government protected form of extortion.

[merlin]

Anyone catch the news last night in Sydney?

In NSW a huge role out of orange flashing lights are being installed into school zones to warn drivers that it is 40km/h. No issue with this, its a good thing IMO.

But then the newsreader goes on to say the project will cost $40 million and the governmnet has anncounced it will fund it by the installation of hundreds of new fixed speed cameras. So hang on, on one hand they are saying speed kills and cameras save lives but on the other they are freely admitting they are an essential source of revenue and if people didn't speed then they couldn't get the funding to install the lights, so they actually don't want to stop people speeding, they just want to catch them. Massive conflict of interest IMO, I predict next step will be the addition of more points on peoples licenses because they need people to NOT lose their licesnse so they can keep paying in revenue. I know, preaching to the converted...

[fairBA]

I know that I will cop some crap for this - but if speed cameras are revenue raising - as long as the revenue goes back into road/transport improvments, then I dont mind them. When on my P's i got done for 3 points, in QLD P plates had 4 points in total for 3 years before you move to opens. I had to drive around for 2 years like a saint not to loose my P plates. 10 years on i have not had an offence. I feel that I learnt my lesson an now I'm a better driver for it. speed limit is 60 - drive 60, how hard is that! shop complaining. If people are will to pay fines just to drive a bit faster, good, as long as the money is put to good use. rules are rules.
Just for the record I am not a police officer and I dont work for the government.

[Falc'man]

Originally Posted by fairBA

I know that I will cop some crap for this - but if speed cameras are revenue raising - as long as the revenue goes back in...

For a minute there I thought I saw something that I could never have imagined
seeing on a car enthusiast/bogan site...
someone actually condoning what even our crook government is trying to hide

[fairBA]

Trying to hide what! the fact that speed limits are there for a safety reason. Saving lives? Ok, this is worst case situation granted that. What’s next, lets complain about Jwalking fines or dog S&*t fines. Get over it

[Van D]

Originally Posted by fairBA

Trying to hide what! the fact that speed limits are there for a safety reason. Saving lives? Ok, this is worst case situation granted that. What’s next, lets complain about Jwalking fines or dog S&*t fines. Get over it

Speed limits aren't there for saving lives. NT has doubled in road tolls since the limits came in hasn't it (someone feel free to correct, it was that way last time i checked)?

Speed limits and safe driving speeds are two different things.

You've obviously never copped a crap fine. I haven't either, but my mum who is a VERY reserved driver got FOUR in one week, on the same road, by a hidden camera outside her work. Thing is, they hid it behind bushes and at the bottom of a big hill, which is illegal in itself. You could only tell it was there at night when the flash went off.

[Outbackjack]

Originally Posted by Van D

Speed limits aren't there for saving lives. NT has doubled in road tolls since the limits came in hasn't it (someone feel free to correct, it was that way last time i checked)?

They haven't doubled. But since open road speed limits , demerit points, and red light camera's have been introduced the toll has been consistantly higher.

You can check here,

http://www.nt.gov.au/pfes/index.cfm?...ion=page&p=148

What is coming next is spy camera's on the NT open roads to keep a track of people's speeds. Oh yeah thats right, also to prevent all the Peter Falconio type of incidents..... They are really out of control these days.

[Falc'man]

Yeah I am over it thanks. I'm also used to the fact the bastard speed limits
change from km to km aren't I? I wonder how long it'll take for us to have roads
where we can focus on the traffic and conditions around us not worry about
losing our license?
I wonder how long it'll be before I can drive my car like a vegetable like some
people here and boast about not copping a fine? Yeah, I'm over it like I'm over
the mountains in a feken submarine.

[fairBA]

speeding is speeding. Its that simple. revenue raising, this is a by product of speeding. if peolpe dont like this by product, dont give them a reason to rasie revenue off you.

[Casper]

Originally Posted by fairBA

speeding is speeding. Its that simple. revenue raising, this is a by product of speeding. if peolpe dont like this by product, dont give them a reason to rasie revenue off you.

what state do you live in?

[fairBA]

Queensland...
Brisbane....

[Casper]

Originally Posted by fairBA

Queensland...

Come for a drive in Victoria, stay for a month. Lets see how much you agree with the speed camera's then.
I lived in Qld for 9 years, never had a problem with them either as the tolerances were very fair and you really had to be speeding to get a ticket.
Tolerance in Victoria is 3kph over the limit and "FLASH", you have a ticket. The wear rate on a standard falcon tyre from new to worn out will cause a speed to be out by almost 3kph. Aust standards for speedo accruacy is 10% (meaning any speed over 30kph puts Victorian drivers in a position of not having a speedo that needs to be calibrated as accruatly as a speed camera by law). We also have more speed camera's (and mote revenue) than every other state and territory combined. So much so that the camera operators are not even police, just a private company that gets bonus's for tickets given.


Speeding is speeding.. but I'd love to get the pollies in Vic responsible for these tolerances, strap a cattle prod to their balls and hook that cattle prod to the speedo. Rig it to go "FLASH" if they are 3kmph under or over the speed limit, put them in an XF Falcon (with the horizontal speedo) and tell them to drive from Wodonga to Melbourne.
Wonder how they would feel by the end of the trip? I'm guessing they would realise its not humanly possible to drive within those tolerances from the severe burns ward at the Royal Melb Hospital!

[fairBA]

Originally Posted by Casper

Come for a drive in Victoria, stay for a month. Lets see how much you agree with the speed camera's then.

I cant comment on Vic roads. I’ve made my point on this issue - agree or not, we all have diff options and experiences and I did know that most, if not all of you may not agree with me. again, I’ve said what I though should be said here.

[Tote]

I think when the fixed cameras were first introduced into NSW at known blackspots they achieved their objective, to make people slow down for a bad stretch of road a couple of kilometres in length and potentially avoid an accident. As such they were well designed with plenty of big signs warning of the camera and were placed where they would do some good. Unfortunately the temptation of easy revenue for government departments has now contributed to them being placed on open stretches of road where they have no effect other than to raise revenue and negate the effects that well placed cameras had.
The ACT government has just installed a new round of revenue cameras on the Barton highway coming into Canberra from Yass. The other night they had a mobile van parked just up the road from the camera to catch the people who were deliberately speeding up after passing the camera, this demonstrates that the camera is not only not working as a safety device but is actually inciting people to make an effort to speed in spite of it. Full points to the ute that spun the back tyres at 80 KM/H pulling away from the camera as well
Tote

[andrewts]

Originally Posted by Casper

Come for a drive in Victoria, stay for a month. Lets see how much you agree with the speed camera's then.

Amen brother, I agree. There are far too many speed cameras in Melbourne. I can live with the few speed cameras we have here in Sydney, they are reasonable, but Melbourne... what a joke.

[Falc'man]

Speeding is driving like a wan.k at ridiculous speeds where you are potentially risking the safety of others and their property! Going over the posted limit by a few km/h in perfectly good conditions is NOT speeding. Going over the posted limit by a few km/h where the f'n posted limit changes every minute should never be looked at as speeding.

[fairBA]

Originally Posted by Falc'man

Speeding is driving like a wan.k at ridiculous speeds where you are potentially risking the safety of others and their property! Going over the posted limit by a few km/h in perfectly good conditions is NOT speeding. Going over the posted limit by a few km/h where the f'n posted limit changes every minute should never be looked at as speeding.

There has to be a line drawn somewhere. I have seen treads here before asking how far over you can be before you get booked so there is a grace limit, what more do you want.