Police agree speed cameras are for revenue raising
11 Apr, 2008
20 Comments 
Perhaps the most important victory for all car enthusiasts and anyone that has had to suffer from fixed or mobile speed cameras has come today, from no other than Victoria Police.
A recent survey by the Herald Sun has found that more than 70 per cent of Victorian police believe speed and red light cameras are more about revenue-raising than preserving road safety. A point we have tried so very hard to get across.
Out of the 3459 police officers questioned, only 6 per cent (207) strongly agreed speed cameras really do help save lives. Most interestingly though, the main duty of police officers - to serve and protect - is not shared by 42 per cent of the force, who strongly believe making money for the Government is their main role!
Nonetheless, Insp Richard Watkins, of Victoria Police’s major collision investigation unit, still claimed that traffic police strongly supported speed cameras.
“If the cameras are doing their job, then we spend less time at serious collisions and fatalities, members might want to come and spend a day with us to see the impact of speed.” he said.
In Victoria alone, an average of more than 50,000 mobile speed camera fines are issued each month and that figure excludes tickets issued by fixed cameras.
Victoria Police were quick to point out that regardless of what the Police force believe, excessive speed is still the most common cause of road accidents. A spokeswoman for the force noted that there has been a 50 per cent drop in the road toll since the inception of cameras in 1989.
Unfortunately, nor her or the Victorian police force has considered the enormous advancements in vehicle safety since 1989. The inclusion of airbags in nearly all new cars, ESP, ABS, Side airbags, the list goes on, but, according to Victoria Police, the 50% reduction is primarily due to speed cameras…
“The traffic camera program is ultimately designed to reduce the number of vehicle collisions and therefore the incidence of road trauma and death,” she said.
Now that the police officers agree with the majority of us, how can we move forward from here?
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April 11th, 2008 at 11:07 am
“A spokeswoman for the force noted that there has been a 50 per cent drop in the road toll since the inception of cameras in 1989.”
With that sort of mentality is there any point in trying? How did such a moron get to this position in the first place?
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April 11th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Personally, the only reason I slow down and stick closely to the allocated speed limit is IF i think there is a camera up ahead.
If I know there isnt, i am consistently speeding atleast 20kmph over the limit.
So for me, the only thing slowing me down ISNT the fear of crashing, or radars, or police patrols… its speed cameras.
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April 11th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
DUUUH!!!!!
but police are people too……….
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April 11th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Just to prove that it is for saving lives, no $ should change hands. The fine should be for points only. Not a likely scenario.
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April 11th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
“A spokeswoman for the force noted that there has been a 50 per cent drop in the road toll since the inception of cameras in 1989.
Unfortunately, nor her or the Victorian police force has considered the enormous advancements in vehicle safety since 1989. The inclusion of airbags in nearly all new cars, ESP, ABS, Side airbags, the list goes on, but, according to Victoria Police, the 50% reduction is primarily due to speed cameras…”
This is very true. Does the police count how many NEAR HIT there are on the road? They can’t because it doesn’t get reported.
The figures they need to have to say such a statement are the number of NEAR HIT and ACTUAL ACCIDENTS and compare those figures.
If the near hit increased 5x and actual accidents only 2x, then it’s mainly due to the advance in technology, not because of speed camera.
If near hit increased 2x and actual accidents increased 5x, then it shows that people get accident just because they have their eyes on the speedo.
Shit, I just confused myself….
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April 11th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I tend to agree with the statement that excessive speed is a common cause for accidents, however would go further to say excessive speed for the conditions is a more common cause. If that is what worries the Police, why are speed camera margins set at 0 in Victoria, dropping to 5km above the limit in SA and around 10-15 km in NSW. Obviously it’s hard to monitor, control and determine excessive speed, but those allowances, and the general location of most speed cameras being in areas that are deemed quite safe (and easy to speed on) certainly ask the question is it about safety or revenue? What about driver education and defensive driving courses??
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April 11th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
I can’t speak on behalf of all Victoria Police of course, but I hate (and I know the vast majority of members do too) speed cameras with a passion. They ARE there purely for revenue raising, despite what the PR puppets keep sprouting. Yes, speed DOES contribute greatly to accidents, combined with environment, driver error, poor road design, substance abuse etc, but it is very easy to hit mr and mrs Joe average in the pocket on their way to work and call it a “safety camera” than to tackle the real issues which are driver training, among other things. I work in a low socio-economic area, and the funny thing is, is that I never see speed (oops - safety) cameras around our area. I believe that this is because the government know that people without jobs aren’t going to pay speeding fines so the don’t bother with the hassle of the sending out the fines and having them go through the Perin system and then onto the Sheriff’s Office where they won’t get the revenue as it will ultimately be turned into community work or jail time - they want quick turn around revenue that they know Mr and Mrs average will pay as they don’t want their licenses or rego suspended until the fines are payed. So either the parties responsible for the placement of the camera’s don’t give a shit about low income earners (read: mainly unemployed) or they are just about getting the money into the coffers. What do you think?
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April 11th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Just think of it as a speed tax
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April 11th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
I’m sure the police cop (pun intended) a fair bit of abuse because they are just carrying out the instructions of the pollies.
It doesn’t help them to maintain the respect that they deserve when they are seen as tax collectors by a vast number of people.
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April 11th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Remember in all this - YOU vote for the bastards to do this to you, whilst regardless of who you vote for, the unseen and untouchable heads get away with not only your money but your ability to think and act independently.
It is a wise man who once said “Good men need no laws, and bad men are not made better by them.” If you stop to think - this issue goes way beyond speed cameras.
Sure - laws are necessary to define the unacceptable, but they do not and cannot stop those who simply choose to ignore them and act outside them. That is why laws constantly fail.
Look at the ‘Gun Issue’ and all the promises that were made of a “safer society” and “getting guns off the streets” (etc ad-nauseum) - NONE affected the bad and the mad, and neither did government and police who extorted just over a BILLION dollars from the ignorant masses.
The NANNY STATE is upon us, and a full police state is not far away. I came across an interesting site last year - www.ldp.org.au. Check out their policy re motorists - it makes sense.
The problem is that police are the puppets of both transient political masters and invisible bureaucrats who are influenced by the touchy feely “we care for you” brigades of eternal doogooders.
The result is that practical issues such as motor vehicle and road advancements are ignored, and demons are created. The demon for violence is “guns” - so take them not from those who they cannot find, but from those who they can find - ie: the goodies who bother to abide by law and be licensed. For road safety is “speed”, so for every situation reduction in speed is applied as being the panacea.
The result is that despite reality and a host of other factors, EVERYTHING is resolved to speed. Just look at some brainwashed, subservient, braindead cop who mouths “speed was a factor” in most anything related to motor vehicles. OF COURSE IT IS - that’s the object of driving, to use machines to apply reduced time over distance in order to make society advance.
So we suffer blanket rules that are outdated, inappropriately and impractically applied, and often that make situations WORSE.
Enter now the new tool to save us from ourselves - speed cameras - that apply regardless of conditions, and worse - that are often sited with unrealistic speed zones.
It’s effectively entrapment on a grand scale, for us to again fund a pack of mongrels who we have no choice but to vote for so that they can apply more of the same concern for our wellbeing.
Gun owners have said for many years - “Police are our enemy”.
Now it’s the turn of motorists - who is next?
Peter Cunningham
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April 11th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
We had a police officer come to our school, and tell us straight out and that was, what, 5 years ago… No revelation here…
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April 11th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
I just got done tonight by a speed camera on pascoe vale road - it was 10pm on an old 4WD… the road is dead 10pm, like the use of a speed camera is going to help save lives there.. and its my first speeding fine too, so annoyed!
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April 12th, 2008 at 11:24 am
In response to Peter Cunningham’s post, I have to say that I disagree with some of it. It’s not a matter of voting anymore, because they are in and there is nothing that we can do about it. You would NEVER get a politician campaigning to take speed camera’s away, because the state government actually BUDGETS the revenue gained from them.
Smoking and alcohol related diseases are among the biggest killers in society today, yet again you will never get a politician campaigning to get rid of smokes or alcohol because the government relies on the taxes from both. How many people have lost their houses due to pokies? Another cash cow that they won’t ever get rid of.
On one hand you have sectors of our government telling us how horrible speeding is, yet the parties responsible for speed cameras are rubbing their hands together every time the flash goes off.
I found it interesting that a few months ago when a ‘P’ plater with a car full of passengers was killed near the West Gate freeway while drag racing. Witnesses said that they saw the cars deliberately slow down to go through the fixed speed cameras before continuing their drag race and then crashing.
The fact is, speed cameras just don’t work. I’ve been to numerous collisions on night shift where speed was a contributing factor, but speed cameras (other than fixed cameras where most locals know of their location and slow down in that particular area) don’t operate at 2am when the ‘P’ plater decides to see how quick he can go around that tight right hander..
The thing that really pisses me off about speed cameras is that they are often placed in areas that can make your driving more dangerous. The main road into Bendigo has something like 15 or so speed zone changes in a stretch of road that’s a couple of kays long. this is very distracting and dangerous as you have to constantly vary your speed and take your eyes off the road to check your speed as it varies between 60 and 50 km zones..
In response to “Hmmm” - if this is the first time you’ve been flashed in a few years (about 3), and your speed didn’t exceed 15 km/ph over the limit, you can apply in writing for a caution, explaining that you are a good and safe driver and that you admit that you were speeding and that it was a one off etc..
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April 12th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Yeah, first speeding fine in 5 years - was definately below 15km above the limit - will look into this once i get the fine in the mail,
Cheers
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April 13th, 2008 at 12:06 am
There is no doubt that speed cameras CAN save lives. They have played a part in the ongoing reduction in the national road toll.
The MAJOR problem with them is that incompetent politicians fail to use the revenue appropriately. If the fools spent the $150 odd million dollars on improving roads, public transport, Traffic Law Enforcement, etc. their would be a marked improvement in the attitudes shown to these cameras. They are a necessary evil as long as VicPol is managed by an incompetent Chief Commissioner who fails to effectively manage and support discretion and overseen by a Government that has no idea about discretion and dealing with the community.
AND if everyone that got a fine for going, say less than 10 or 15 km/h over the limit, elected to have the matter dealt with at Court it would force the Police Force to re-evaluate their discretionary limits as the court system simply couldn’t handle the thousands of extra matters.
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April 13th, 2008 at 1:09 am
Greed Cameras more like it.
There is something we CAN all do about them, however laid back Aussies mostly just cop it and very few make a stand about such ridiculous money grabbing devices that apparently save us all from danger.
Are all of these Greed Cameras situated in ‘Black Spots’/ dangerous Zones, No! so the answer is obvious.
Unmarked highway patrol cars keeping us guessing would work far better, but they don’t pump the general public for volume greed camera profits.
Our goverment departments are mostly run by idiots and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better.
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April 19th, 2008 at 11:58 am
speeding camera are in some ways more or equal danger in using mobile phone while driving,, surprise???
drivers are so scared to get booked, so instead of looking on the road and concentrating on safety their eyes are more often checking the speed they are traveling instead of the road. we all know how often the speed limit can vary in a short period of travel
In looking many micro seconds on the speedometer, one could not defiantly be so safe, as the spokeswoman for the force noted that there has been a 50 per cent drop in the road toll since the inception of cameras in 1989.
Does anyone ever check what is the percentage from the 50 percent left from the drop of accidents which are to blame the speeding camera.
Is anything wrong to give the Victorian some tolerance speed allowance like any other states. Speed camera margins set at 0 in Victoria, dropping to 5km above the limit in SA and around 10-15 km in NSW. Those allowances give drivers in those states the opportunity to drive safer and keep more money in their pocket.
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April 23rd, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Its just another way for the cows(us tax payers)to get milked for money.
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May 17th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Interesting reading about speed cameras and raising revenue.
Do you really believe the Pollies, Police and RTA care what you think. I doubt it.
Well, get ready for the next new way to raise revenue by satellite. It is on trial now and could be in operation by the end of the year.
they must watch a lot of James Bond movies and get their ideas from 007.
Bring back the Horse and Cart
danny
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June 21st, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Its not safe to speed on public roads, anyone who does risks the lives of other motorists and their own. If you speed you deserve to be fined. If you all really want to stick it to the government, dont speed and they wont raise any revenue from the cameras.
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