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New speed cameras deliver a fast buck


DRIVERS are about to be whacked by mobile speed cameras the NSW Government believes will help deliver more than $100 million in fines this financial year alone.
Macquarie Bank, dubbed "the millionaires' factory" because of the huge salaries paid to executives, is attempting to secure a cut of the bonanza by launching a $275 million takeover bid for Redflex, the company contracted by the State Government to operate the cameras.
An initial fleet of six camera vehicles will be rolled out from July 19 at traffic black spots across NSW with plans for more next financial year.
They can fine six drivers every second.
Budget papers reveal that revenue from fines will almost double from $295 million in 2008-09 to $570 million in 2011-12

"Fine revenue is estimated to increase by $137 million during 2010-11, with a mobile speed camera program and a five per cent increase in speeding fines," the Budget says. The NSW Government has refused to disclose how much of the $137 million increase will come from the mobile vans, but The Sunday Telegraph can reveal it could be $100 million.

The fleet of white Ford Territory vans will carry radar cameras that can catch as many as six speeding cars travelling in either direction, every second, day or night, regardless of weather conditions. The vans also record video and have roof-mounted CCTV cameras.
An initial fleet of six camera vehicles will be rolled out in eight days, with plans for more next financial year.

The NSW Government refuses to disclose how much of the revenue will go to Redflex, which also supplies fixed speed cameras, but the Victoria-based company is now the target of a takeover bid by Macquarie Bank. The bank and two of its wholly owned subsidiaries - Macquarie Radar Holdings and Macquarie Special Situations Master Fund - bought 10 per cent of Redflex in June.
Macquarie Bank has made billions out of privatising roads and airports in NSW. Last year, the corporate giant made more than $1 billion. Drivers will not be warned before driving into the mobile speed camera's zone. A small sign on the vehicle reads: "Safe speed check". Another sign placed at the roadside will inform motorists: "Your speed has been checked."

The speed camera locations will be uploaded daily to the Roads and Traffic Authority website to encourage drivers to slow down. Fines will also be waived for the first month of operation, with drivers receiving a warning letter, instead. The Sunday Telegraph was given the first look at the new vehicles last week. Each has two bi-directional radars to measure the speed of as many as six lanes of traffic.

Inside the boot is an 11- megapixel digital camera, which will take two photographs of speeding motorists. Alongside the digital camera is a video camera, which will record continuously to monitor the road. On the roof is the infrared flash, which is invisible to the naked eye to avoid distracting drivers caught at night. Mobile speed cameras will be parked at each destination for three hours, before moving on to a new location. "The mobile speed cameras will only be placed in locations with a high accident history as determined by the RTA in consultation with NSW Police," Dr Soames Job, director of the RTA's Centre for Road Safety, said. The NSW Government has refused to specify what proportion of its $137 million increase in fines will come from the mobile cameras. Last year, about $62 million was collected by fixed speed cameras. Based on the Budget figures and an average fine of $211, an estimated 1600 more drivers a day could be booked this financial year.

Mobile cameras have been responsible for a sharp increase in speeding fines in Victoria, where 50,000 drivers a month are caught. Angry motorists claim they are simply a revenue-raising tool.
NSW Roads Minister David Borger said he was determined to cut the road toll and the mobile cameras would help. The NRMA wants a review of the cameras if the road toll remains unchanged.

While Arizona Switches Off Speed Cameras - NSW Turns them Back On.

Download NSW Mobile Speed Camera List

Australia - New South Wales.

The Roads Minister yesterday denied there were ''current plans'' for more than six digital mobile speed cameras - even though each camera would have to operate for 67 hours a day to fulfil the state government's target of 12,200 hours a month by July 2011.

The six cameras started operating in six regions around NSW yesterday - with only one camera to be active in the greater Sydney region.

In the first month, when warning letters will be sent and no fines issued, the cameras - which can operate at night - will be active for only six hours a day each.

The meager start to the program - less than one camera for every million residents - was criticized by the Pedestrian Council, which called on the government to operate more cameras in more, undisclosed, locations.

The minister, David Borger, remained unapologetic for not revealing exactly where the cameras would be stationed every day, saying motorists had been provided with a list of 150 likely locations, which were accident black spots.

''All the evidence shows that if people know exactly, precisely, where a location will be, they will temporarily slow down and may speed up again after they get to that location, so that the risks of injuries and the risks of deaths are still maintained along that section of road.''

The government is spending $1.2 million on an advertising campaign about the scheme, more than half as much as the $2 million contract to supply and operate cameras for a year. But the government expects to earn $137 million in fines from the cameras this financial year.

Mr Borger said the abolition of old film-based mobile speed cameras was responsible for an increase in the road toll in recent years and predicted a reduction. ''We think that six cameras can make an impact on the road toll in NSW.''

Mobile speed cameras had reduced the road toll by 25 per cent in Queensland and 34 per cent in Victoria, he said.

''The current plans are that there are six vehicles in NSW. There are no current plans to expand it beyond that,'' Mr Borger said. But his spokeswoman later acknowledged that that this was incorrect.

When the former transport minister, David Campbell, announced the program in March, the government spoke of 35 to 40 cameras to deliver 12,200 hours of enforcement a month.

Mr Borger's spokeswoman said last night the RTA ''can't remember that statistic'' and that it might have been ''an estimate''

NSW to use Big Brother Cameras to Catch Unregistered Drivers

Speed cameras will double as weapons in NSW to catch unregistered drivers and uninsured vehicles.

Under amendments passed through NSW parliament, the cameras will be used to determine whether speeding drivers are also behind the wheels of unregistered and uninsured vehicles.

NSW Transport and Roads Minister David Campbell says the same principle will also apply to red light, safety, transit way and toll way cameras.

Number plates of vehicles caught committing an offence will be checked against Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) records.

The RTA estimates there are about 65,000 unregistered and uninsured vehicles on NSW roads.

"People who drive unregistered and uninsured vehicles are not paying their way and motorists who do the right thing are the ones who pay the price," Mr Campbell said in a statement on Monday.

"Not only are they cheating the system, but they're also posing a major safety risk, with bald tyres, faulty brakes and dangerous car modifications going undetected. Fines for using an unregistered vehicle or uninsured vehicle are both more than $500 under the new laws.

Mr Campbell says unregistered vehicles are not covered for compulsory third party insurance.

"Personal injury claims caused by unregistered motor vehicles cost more than $18.5 million a year in NSW," he said.

"These people are pushing up the cost of insurance for everyone else." The first infringements under the new scheme will be issued from August 2010. The NSW government plans an education campaign about the new reforms.

Point-to-point speed cameras in 20 locations to crack down on truck drivers breaking road laws

The Daily Telegraph March 2010

NEW point-to-point speed cameras will be rolled out to 20 locations across NSW from this month in an effort to crack down on truck drivers tailgating and other unsafe practices. Truckies will face increased fines and extra demerit points if caught speeding by the new devices - or trying to avoid them.

Transport Minister David Campbell said the cameras would only target speeding heavy vehicles more than 4.5 tonnes. The move follows evidence of trucks tailgating each other in an effort to confuse speed cameras or prevent them from identifying the registration. The point-to-point cameras work by measuring the time it takes a heavy vehicle to travel a length of road. If a truck's average speed is higher than the speed limit for the road, the driver will be fined and incur demerit points.

Mr Campbell said that despite heavy vehicles making up only three per cent of vehicle registrations, trucks over 4.5 tonnes were represented in nearly 20 per cent of road fatalities across the state. The first cameras come on line later this month on a 35 km stretch of the Pacific Highway from New Italy to Harwood and by the end of next year the cameras will be rolled out to 20 locations identified by road safety experts. There were approximately 1800 crashes along these stretches of road between 2002-2006 with around 20 per cent involving heavy vehicles.

"The measures are being put in place to make regional roads safer for everyone who uses them,'' Mr Campbell said. Point-to-point technology is already in place in many countries across Europe and has also been introduced at locations along the Hume Highway in Victoria. The new areas will be signposted and a list of the locations will be made public.

NSW Police Under Fire for Scarecrow Tactics

What is this, "Stupid Cops Month"? The NSW Police where under attack after it was reported on the Channel 10 news early this month that the New South Wales police were using scarecrow tactics, parking police cars in visible places with "pretendy" police officers inside. Is this the new NSW Road Safety Campaign strategy on a budget? What next police officers with toy guns? (Sorry, the bullets were too expensive.)

NSW - Red Light Cameras to be Updated

By ANDREW WEST TRANSPORT

ALARMED at the steep increase in the state's road toll this year, the NSW Government will replace its network of red light cameras in an effort to catch more reckless and speeding drivers.

The Transport Minister, David Campbell, will today announce that “wet-film” cameras, which require manual loading and development and have been in place for more than 20 years, will be upgraded to digital cameras.

The 200 new cameras will be introduced over the next four years and linked to a central network. Some will also serve as speed cameras.

Click here for camera locations.

“The current 183 red light camera sites are over 20 years old and it is time that they were replaced,” Mr Campbell said.

“The parts are no longer available to service these cameras. This new technology will be placed at intersections with extremely poor crash records. We will be installing these new safety cameras where they are needed most to improve road safety.”

The minister said that with the 2009 road toll now at 415 deaths -94 fatalities up on the 2008 toll - more effective ways of catching reckless drivers were vital.

"The road safety benefit of red-light cameras is a reduction in the number of right angle crashes which are also known as 'T-bone crashes'," he said.

"Speeding through a red light is one of the most dangerous things you can do on our roads and the consequences for yourself and innocent motorists could be deadly.''

He said that at sites where cameras had been installed, police had recorded falls of up to 70 per cent in dangerous driving.

The Roads and Traffic Authority, which be responsible for the new technology, will activate combined red light and speed cameras at four permanent sites, while another five dual-use cameras will be rotated through 25 other locations across NSW.

“The aim is to change driver behaviour, ensuring motorists slow down and obey red lights at intersections,” Mr Campbell said.

The Government will install the first 50 of new cameras over the next six months at locations with poor crash histories, including the intersections of Botany Road and Bourke Road, Alexandria; New Narellan Road and Kellicar Road at Campbelltown; Canterbury Road and King Georges Road, Lakemba; George Street and Liverpool Street in the City; and the Great Western Highway and Hawkesbury Road at Mays Hill.

The first of the new cameras will be running by late December, in time for the holidays.

Speeding bikers beat the cameras
The Australian - Sept 15 2009

A NATIONAL police commissioners' plan to force motorcyclists to wear front number plates has been dumped after 10 years' study, at a direct cost of almost $500,000 and millions more lost in government revenues.

For almost 30 years, motorcyclists have been able to thumb their noses at speed cameras - sometimes travelling at more than double the speed limit - because they have not had to display front number plates for safety reasons. States are forgoing an estimated $2million a year each in revenue from fines as motorcycles evade detection on speed cameras.

The latest report from Victoria's Road Safety and Transport group said this month that "identifying vehicles engaged in illegal acts, such as speeding or travelling through red lights at intersections, is a significant issue for enforcement agencies".
Some motorcyclists also escape detection from cameras that shoot the offenders by covering their rear licence plates. Others flaunt their immunity by doing wheelies past police cameras.

Some offenders are caught only when they are identified by the tattoos on their arms.
Last year, NSW police arrested a motorcyclist who allegedly sped past police cameras near the Spit Bridge in Sydney more than 2000 times while covering his rear number plate with his hand to avoid detection. The motorcyclist was finally arrested and charged with 62 offences after a policeman recognised his clothing and motorbike and saw him speed past a camera with a hand over his rear plate. The motorcyclist lost 200 demerit points and was fined $7500.

Last night, West Australian Police Minister Rob Johnson told The Australian: "I don't believe anyone, motorcyclists, car or truck drivers, should be able to speed past a camera with impunity and continually put their own and other people's lives at risk."

In 2000, all police commissioners asked for a study to put front licence plates back on motorcycles because police believed riders were speeding because they would not be caught. Front plates were removed after injuries to riders and pedestrians and because the plates affected air flow and steering.

According to Freedom of Information documents obtained by the Pedestrian Council of Australia, the study, conducted by Victorian transport authorities, found it was possible to use a system of stick-on plates or a mounting. However a method suitable for every existing motorcycle could not be found.

The study, ordered by the Australian Transport Council, which includes all transport ministers, went from 2002 to 2007 and cost taxpayers $419,980.
In March this year the Standing Committee on Transport decided not to proceed with the idea of front number plates and handed responsibility to the Queensland government to investigate electronic methods of identifying motorcycles from the roadside.

Last night a spokesman for federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said the Australian Transport Council had not considered the issue while he was minister.
The director of the Pedestrian Council of Australia, Harold Scruby, said that "one motorcyclist can break the law more than 2000 times is proof positive the system is a farce".

Mr Johnson said Western Australia was now leading the way with technology to get around the lack of number plates on motorcycles, with trials of dual lens cameras that photograph vehicles from both the front and rear.

Inquiry hears call for hidden speed cameras
Posted Thu Aug 27, 2009 2:00pm AEST

A New South Wales parliamentary inquiry has been told that random mobile speed cameras would drastically cut the road toll.

The inquiry into pedestrian safety has been called to try to cut the state's soaring road toll, which is up 50 deaths from last year.

Doctor Soames Job from the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) Centre for Road Safety has today told the inquiry that each death costs the state at least $1.5 million.

The government is considering introducing mobile speed cameras to cut the toll.

Doctor Job says he has clear evidence that it would have a significant effect, because half of all road deaths are speed related.

His advice comes days after a coroner found hand-held speed cameras were risking the lives of police officers.

The motoring organisation, the NRMA is opposed to covert cameras.
It says more police are needed on the roads to lower speeding.

Speed cameras are killing cops, inquest hears
Source: The Daily Telegraph August 26, 200

HAND-held speed cameras could be banned from freeways following damning findings of an inquest into the death of a highway patrol officer.

Deputy State Coroner Hugh Dillon blasted procedures whereby police step on to the road to flag down speeding motorists as too dangerous for both drivers and police .
Senior Constable Peter Wilson, 41, died after he was hit by a four-wheel drive on a high-speed straight stretch of the F3 at Somersby known as the "flight deck" in November 2006.

His partner, Senor Constable Scott Beverley, nearly died on the same stretch of road three years earlier and at least another four highway patrol officers had been injured trying to stop speeding motorists since 2000.

Mr Dillon said NSW Police appeared to have learned little despite being prosecuted and fined by Work- cover following a serious injury to Sergeant Mark Johnson that left him unable to work again after he was hit by a car in 2000.

The coroner called on the RTA to put more fixed speed cameras on freeways, motorways and other high-speed roads in NSW regardless of whether they were known accident black spots.

The inquest heard police jumping out unexpectedly from the median strip to pull over speeding drivers was actually causing accidents.

On the F3 at Somersby, the inquest heard of motorists losing control and veering dangerously after slamming on their brakes when spotting police. Mr Dillon recommended that hand-held speed cameras be banned on multi-lane roads with limits of 80km/h or more.

"It is surely a paradox that police operations designed to improve road safety can, in some cases, result in increased danger to motorists and police on the road," he said.
The coroner said that he was horrified when an officer stood directly in front of his car when pulling him over for a recent random breath test.

Mr Dillon said that there was a "cultural tension" between officers catching offenders and a concern for their own safety.

Sen-Constable Beverley gave evidence that on the day his partner was killed they did follow procedures, hiding their police car and not flagging their location with lights.
"Let's be honest, to be effective you need to be where people don't expect you to be," he said.