NEWS: Radar detector, police speeding fine and laser jammer news 2004.

Fewer caught speeding, but toll the same

From The West Australian
By Sean Cowan
November 15, 2004

Further doubts have been cast over the effectiveness of speed cameras as a road safety tool after revelations that fewer drivers are being caught speeding, but the road toll has stayed the same.

Figures obtained by The West Australian from the State Treasury and the Department of Premier and Cabinet under Freedom of Information laws show that income from red light cameras and Multanovas was down almost $9.5 million in 2002-2003.

While the final details for 2003-2004 were not included in the internal emails which outlined the 2002-2003 fall, indications from the Road Traumas Trust Fund were that camera revenue fell again.

The RTTF, which pays for road safety programs in WA, gets a third of all red light and Multanova revenue. Its monthly reports revealed that income fell by almost $300,000 in 2003-04, indicating fines were down about $1 million. Deaths were up by 13 to 184 in 2002-03. In 2003-04, 168 people died on our roads. The RTTF's monthly reports also revealed that the falls had not been expected, the agency's budgeted income falling $2 million short in 2002-03 and $1.1 million short last financial year.

The figures prompted the State Government to last week top up the RTTF's funding by $4 million, with Community Safety Minister Michelle Roberts claiming the agency had fallen victim to its own success.

Mrs Roberts said its graphic and effective road safety campaigns had caused a significant drop in the number of people being caught by red light cameras or Multanovas.

"This is a good news road safety story when there is less revenue from people committing speeding infringements," she said. "It means more people are taking care on the roads.

"We have invested more than $210 million over the last four years into saving lives and that approach is now paying dividends."

But road safety shadow minister Katie Hodson-Thomas said drivers were simply being more careful and often knew where Multanovas were placed. It was time the cameras were placed in spots where accidents happened, instead of being placed in an effort to maximise revenue, she said.

Speed, camera and no action

From The West Australian
By Clyde Russell
June 19, 2004

Speed cameras are nothing more than roadside revenue collectors or an essential part of the drive to save lives, depending on your perspective.

Are we getting value for our money and are the correct policies being pursued?

The first thing that strikes you is that speed cameras actually raise what is really an insignificant amount of money.

In WA they are expected to raise $33 million in 2004-05. This may seem like a lot of money, especially to the half million or so motorists they will catch, but in overall terms it is a spit in the bucket.

The overall State revenue for WA is forecast to be $12.72 billion in 2004-05, making the contribution from speed cameras only a tiny part of government revenue.

But there are some big numbers when it comes to road safety. Try $15 billion for size. This was the amount the Australian Transport Council estimated was the cost of road fatalities across the country in 1996, the latest figure they cited.

In WA, the Liberal opposition said road accidents cost the State $1 billion a year, a figure that seems rather low if you accept the national cost as being as high as $15 billion.

One can conclude from this that road safety is therefore very important, not only in terms of saving lives, but also in terms of economic costs. To put it into perspective, $15 billion is enough to scrap the top two income tax brackets altogether, meaning the top rate would then be 31.5 per cent for everybody.

For those who hate the idea of handing anything to the so-called wealthy, how about this: $15 billion is enough to raise the tax-free threshold for income from its current $6000 a year to about $10,000 a year. So, any saving we can make from lowering the road toll would be very good indeed.

The question then becomes whether the correct tactics are being followed, and here it becomes much more contentious.

You divide the road safety lobby into roughly two groups. These are the “speed kills” group and the “other factors are more important” group.

Both sides have copious amounts of statistics to back their positions – and both tend to ignore the other’s research in favour of their own.

But there are some hard facts. The most important one is that the road toll in Australia, after declining steadily for decades, has plateaued in recent years.

In global terms, our death toll of 9.3 deaths per 100,000, while well down on the 30.4 per 100,000 in 1970, is mid-range for developed countries. It is perhaps no coincidence that the decline in the road toll ended when speed cameras became widely used.

Research from overseas countries, particularly Britain and Canada, show that speed cameras have had little impact on reducing road tolls, and the Australian experience so far bears this out. It is also interesting to note that most road safety campaigns across Australia focus almost exclusively on repeating the speed kills mantra, with some focus on weariness as a driving risk.

Research from the Canadian province of British Columbia, which did away with its speed cameras, found that more than two-thirds of accidents occurred at speeds below the posted limits.

Driver mistakes and inattention were far more often the causes of accidents than speed, the research said.

The other major killer is road conditions. In fact, the ATC says the most effective way to reduce the road toll is to improve the quality of roads.

But fixing up roads and building better highways costs lots of money, way more than buying speed cameras for example.

Governments across Australia also appear to be trapped in the speed kills view of road safety to the exclusion of other ideas.

What’s more dangerous, a person travelling at 120kmh on a near deserted freeway or a person driving at 55kmh in the rain in an old technology four-wheel drive without anti-lock brakes and tyre tread just the right side of legal?

However, our freeway speeder will be caught by a camera and fined while our four-wheel driver could plough into a school bus while theoretically driving quite legally.

Why aren’t governments legislating the compulsory fitment of anti-lock brakes and airbags? Like seatbelts they are proven technology, but still many new cars are sold without them.

Again, to do this is difficult, and far harder than buying speed cameras.

No sensible person would argue for no speed limits. So let’s be sensible. Urban speed limits at 50kmh may well help save lives, but at least make sure that good, divided urban arterials enjoy higher limits.

Evidence from overseas suggests that higher speed limits, of up to 130kmh, makes no difference to the death or injury toll.

But taking on the “speed kills” lobby is hard. They have an almost religious zeal that speed is the single most important factor in road safety, rather than just one of a series of important factors.

In economic terms, speed cameras raise little money and don’t appear to have helped reduce the road toll at all.

But I have a feeling the main cost of speed cameras is social. They encourage people to watch their speedometers more than the road ahead. They are also viewed with justifiable cynicism by the public, and I imagine they erode the respect that the public has for law and order.

Visible policing, better roads, safer cars, better trained drivers and fair application of the laws all work more effectively at improving road safety than speed cameras. But these cost money and take hard effort, something speed cameras don’t.

Fewer caught speeding, but toll the same

From The West Australian
By Sean Cowan
November 15, 2004

Further doubts have been cast over the effectiveness of speed cameras as a road safety tool after revelations that fewer drivers are being caught speeding, but the road toll has stayed the same.

Figures obtained by The West Australian from the State Treasury and the Department of Premier and Cabinet under Freedom of Information laws show that income from red light cameras and Multanovas was down almost $9.5 million in 2002-2003.

While the final details for 2003-2004 were not included in the internal emails which outlined the 2002-2003 fall, indications from the Road Traumas Trust Fund were that camera revenue fell again.

The RTTF, which pays for road safety programs in WA, gets a third of all red light and Multanova revenue. Its monthly reports revealed that income fell by almost $300,000 in 2003-04, indicating fines were down about $1 million. Deaths were up by 13 to 184 in 2002-03. In 2003-04, 168 people died on our roads. The RTTF's monthly reports also revealed that the falls had not been expected, the agency's budgeted income falling $2 million short in 2002-03 and $1.1 million short last financial year.

The figures prompted the State Government to last week top up the RTTF's funding by $4 million, with Community Safety Minister Michelle Roberts claiming the agency had fallen victim to its own success.

Mrs Roberts said its graphic and effective road safety campaigns had caused a significant drop in the number of people being caught by red light cameras or Multanovas.

"This is a good news road safety story when there is less revenue from people committing speeding infringements," she said. "It means more people are taking care on the roads.

"We have invested more than $210 million over the last four years into saving lives and that approach is now paying dividends."

But road safety shadow minister Katie Hodson-Thomas said drivers were simply being more careful and often knew where Multanovas were placed. It was time the cameras were placed in spots where accidents happened, instead of being placed in an effort to maximise revenue, she said.

Our speed cameras reap millions from road where there are no deaths

From The West Australian
By Ben Harvey
April, 2004

THE Gallop Government's claim that speed cameras were not revenue-raising tools was in tatters last night after damning figures proved that Multanovas had littered roads where there were no fatal crashes.

The statistics also revealed that nearly half of the road black spots had not had a speed camera at any time last year.

And further questions have been raised about camera placements with evidence that operators have been ignoring guidelines on where Multanovas are allowed.

Statistics tabled in State Parliament show that of 179 fatal crash sites last year, 86 did not have a Multanova anywhere near them - before or after the crash.

Authorities also failed to place cameras at or near many black spots even after multiple deaths in the area.

Four deaths in Albany could not convince operators to move one of the State's 13 cameras there, despite two deaths occurring on the same stretch of road.

Two deaths each in Port Hedland and Boddington did not result in Multanovas being placed in or near those towns.

But while motorists were dying on country roads, fatality-free city streets were riddled with cameras. Canning Highway in Como, Railway Parade in Karrakatta and Wanneroo Road in Tuart Hill each had cameras on them between 93 and 124 days.

Shadow transport minister Katie Hodson-Thomas said the statistics proved authorities were happier to catch people doing a few kilometres an hour over the limit in the city than catch hundreds of people seriously speeding in the country.

It is positive to see fewer deaths on roads where there are Multanovas but if there are deaths in other areas surely the cameras should be moved,' she said.

The State Opposition claimed the figures were the smoking gun in the debate over whether Multanovas were more about raising revenue than saving lives.

Multanovas and red light cameras bolstered treasury coffers by $42,177,000 in 2001-02 and $46,779,000 in 2000-01.

Among many inconsistencies:_

Cameras were set up on 255 days on the blackspot-free stretch of West Coast Highway between Trigg and City Beach but were not placed once on nearby West Coast Drive, where a person was killed.

Two road deaths on the freeway system - totalling 136km - were used to justify hundreds of Multanova placements last year and a blitz in May this year.

A spokesman for Police Minister Michelle Roberts said Multanovas were placed at the discretion of police. A police spokesman said public complaints could trigger a Multanova being set up on a crash-free road.

Ms Hodson-Thomas also accused camera operators of breaching an informal arrangement not to hide cameras, place them at the base of hills or within 100m of a change of speed sign.

Bad drivers endanger emergency vehicles - NZ

From New Zealand Herald
By Unknown
January 25, 2004

Emergency services are being plagued by bad driving.

Ambulance, fire and police vehicles answering emergency calls are being hampered by ignorant, panic-stricken or "downright dangerous" driving.

Some people fail to pull over, others pull out in front, and some even chase emergency vehicles in a hazardous bid to escape traffic queues.

The situation was highlighted after an ambulance driver was injured in a crash when he swerved to avoid a car in Whangaparaoa.

The paramedic needed hospital treatment for back injuries and the ambulance sustained $10,000 worth of damage after it careered off the road while taking evasive action.

"Only the paramedic's expert, professional driving prevented the accident being a lot worse," said Patsy Carlysle, St John Ambulance acting watch manager for ambulance operations. Despite flashing lights and blaring sirens, many drivers did not pull over or slow down, she said.

Even more worrying was a small number of motorists who followed an ambulance to beat traffic jams.

"I think the worst examples I've seen recently involve boy racers following us while going 'priority one', even going through red lights as we go through them." It wasn't just boy racers though, she said; a variety of drivers pulled the same trick on congested motorways.

It was particularly dangerous with ambulances weighing in at 2.5 tonnes and being legally allowed to travel at speeds of 130km/h, she added.

Fire service and police vehicles are experiencing the same problem.

Drivers needed to realise they had to pull over, as part of the road code, when they saw an emergency vehicle, said Senior Sergeant Geoff Logan.

A Fire Brigade spokesman confirmed it was a problem but said it was not extreme because the size of fire engines meant motorists usually got out of the way.

Ms Carlysle said: "Every time we respond to an urgent call we take our lives into our own hands - and this is exacerbated by other motorists' driving that is bad or downright dangerous.

"It is a credit to the professionalism of St John and the responsible majority of driving public that ambulances travel around 12.5 million kilometres a year mostly without incident.

"But the minority are taking risks with their own lives, the lives of our drivers and the lives we are trying to save."

Road rules DO:

* Pull over as far left as possible
* Check your rear-vision mirror
* Be courteous DON'T:
* Chase emergency vehicles
* Pull on to the right side of the road
* Stop with an emergency vehicle behind you
* Overtake emergency vehicles
* Stay on the outside lane just because there is room to pass on the inside

Most speeders caught near city

From The West Australian
By Susan Hewitt
January 13, 2004

Figures show big drop in number of offenders and revenue from cameras

Drivers are most likely to get caught by a speed camera in inner city suburbs.

Documents obtained by “The West Australian” under Freedom of Information legislation show half the suburbs where most drivers are caught and fined are those immediately surrounding the Perth central business district.

West Perth, Victoria Park, East Perth, Perth and Burswood are five of the ten suburbs where the highest number of speed camera infringement notices were issued in the 2001-02 and 2002-03 financial years.

But figures show there has been a big drop in the number of people being caught.

In 2001-02, the Government made more than $46 million by fining nearly half the licensed WA drivers – issuing 567,479 speed and red light camera fines.

The following year, 416,794 Multanova and red light camera infringement notices were issued which raised $33 million.

The revised budget for this financial year is about $32.5 million, but based on figures already available for the first three months of the year – July, August and September – that could be as low as $27 million.

The officer in charge of the police camera section, Sen Sgt Carl Fisher, said that in ten years the number of people checked by speed cameras was 20 times bigger but the percentage of those speeding had dropped by more than two-thirds.

Rough figures showed that in 1992, of one million cars checked, 62 per cent were speeding.

In 2002, police checked 20 million cars and only 16.5 per cent of them were speeding.

Sen Sgt Fisher said there was a good chance drivers had learnt to predict where Multanovas would be placed and slowed down in anticipation, but that was still an effective anti-speeding tactic.

“Seventy-four per cent of the Multanova camera locations are crash-related sites so if people are slowing down they are starting to learn and do the right thing,” he said.

Police Minister Michelle Roberts said she had had discussions with Police Commissioner Barry Matthews to try to find ways of reducing public cynicism toward the placement of Multanovas.

She also planned to review the controversial Speed Camera Placement Committee’s function and said there would be an announcement from the commissioner on both matters soon.

Sen Sgt Fisher said the number of operational Multanovas in WA had gradually increased and for the last three years there had been no reduction in the number of camera operators or the hours that Multanovas were in operation.

He believed people were slowing down around known camera locations, but there were constantly growing new suburbs police were not able to monitor with speed cameras.

In November last year, a Multanova was placed permanently with Peel police, but it would be difficult with current operating systems to put more in place.

They were not cost-effective in country areas, where traffic was light.

He said there were no plans to scale down Multanova operations.

SPEED TRAPS

The 10 suburbs where the highest number of speed camera infringement notices were issued;