Does speed kill? Revenue Before Safety
12 Apr, 2007
13 Comments 
For our loyal readers the theme of our writing should have become rather obvious by now, we simply do not support the state governments in their efforts to blame speed as the cause of our nations road toll. We have argued countless times that speed is simply a contributing factor at the best of times and most definitely not the cause.
In our battle against the State Governments (and many other media organisations) we have found a few friends who have also stood up against the state government’s “Speed Kills” policy. Road Sense is Australia’s leading website helping to shed some light on the reality of Speed Cameras and their ineffectiveness to save lives.
We have a special treat for our readers today, a special report written by Mr Bruce Josephs has been kindly donated to CarAdvice for our readers. The report clearly, thoroughly and truthfully shows how the NSW GovernmentÂ’s speeding policy is failing.
Report highlights:
- The false premise that Speeding Kills which the government uses in order to justify taking hundreds of millions of dollars from the motoring public.
- The false and misleading propaganda used to back up this false premise.
- The unreliability of the speed measurement devices used to infringe motorists.
- How radar operators break police guidelines in order to infringe innocent motorists.
- The situation where many motorists whilst not breaking any law are subject to losing points, time, money, etc.
- The extraordinary lengths the government goes to, in order to prevent justice and maintain their cash cow.
- Highlighting the fact that many innocent motorists are losing their livelihoods, time and money, etc when they have not even broken the law, let alone done anything wrong.
- This report aims to highlight the truth behind the NSW Government’s failed speeding policy and offers suggestions to improve the current situation.
You can download the Full article in PDF format : Does speed kill? Government Putting Revenue Before Safety (500kb)
Excerpts from the Article follow :
Does speed kill?
The current use of speed cameras (including radars and lidars) is generating hundreds of millions of dollars for State Governments at the expense of Australian lives.
The current NSW Government road safety policy uses a “speed kills” mentality with lower speed limits stringently policed by speed cameras, radar and lidar. Sadly, its justification is based on lies about how many lives speed cameras can save and that speeding above the limit is the major cause of road fatalities.
There is no government scientific data or study available that states how many lives are lost above the speed limit. The major studies and reports referred to by the Government, used to justify speed cameras, are grossly misleading - some would say fraudulent. The vast majority of the data presented is from crashes that occur below the speed limit…. (read entire article)
Current speeding policy is not saving lives
The “speeding” lie would be easier to accept if it was saving lives but it is not. Prior to the introduction of speed cameras the road toll was declining steadily due to common sense policies, more visible police on the road, safer vehicles, improved roads, improved paramedic skills and more.
Between 1980 and 1992 the road toll declined by around 40%. And as more vehicles are fitted with air bags, electronic stability control and other safety features, we would expect that along with the NSW Government’s justification for using speed cameras, the road toll would decline - it has not. It has halted the decline in deaths, abruptly.
According to RoadSense.com.au, based on Australian Transport Safety Bureau statistics, the road toll would have been less by 500 lives in 2004 had the previous beneficial trend been allowed to continue. Similar trends have been shown in New Zealand at www.fastsafe.org.au and on www.safespeed.org.uk in the United Kingdom.
The main reason for the failure of this speed kills policy is that in urban areas driver focus has changed from getting safely to their destination to not getting caught by a speed camera. Speed cameras are a massive distraction. And in addition to this distraction, low speed limits lead to boredom, inattention and drowsiness. And obviously from the statistics, the NSW Government is focusing on the wrong culprit of Australias road deaths….. (read entire article)
Problems with lowering speed limits
There are many problems associated with lower speed limits. Lower speed limits mean more congestion, longer delays, higher transport costs, increased pollution, and greater driver fatigue. Motorists become frustrated and may take unnecessary risks, to get to their destination more efficiently. Furthermore, accidents are caused by the implementation of
slow speed limits as drivers are distracted from the act of driving and are more concerned with watching their speedometer or watching for speed cameras.
Harsher penalties force motorists to watch their speedometers more, and motorists brake suddenly when approaching fixed radar and speed camera sites. This is backed up by research by British Sociologist, Dr Alan Buckingham. Sudden braking on approaches to speed cameras causes accidents and has been shown by Paul Smith at www.safespeed.org.uk. …. (read entire article)
You can download the Full article in PDF format : Does speed kill? Government Putting Revenue Before Safety (500kb)
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April 13th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
With the enforcrement “by stealth” & hiding speed cameras etc that the police use nowadays, i find solice using my own stealth methods: RADAR DETECTOR! If it’s good enough for them….
(Report)
April 13th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
“To whom it may concern,
may I please have permission to (at least briefly)
take my eyes off the speedometer so that I may
watch the traffic around me. I want to live”.
Yours sincerely
C.Watts
(Report)
April 19th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
This is quite simply the best article I have read in a motoring website .. ever.
Thank you for giving me some faith knowing there are those out there who know the real issue and are willing to speak their mind.
(Report)
May 2nd, 2007 at 5:02 pm
if the world was made up of monkeys then how the hell would anyone hold a cup of tea properly?
the answer is they couldnt because we would be too unco-ordinated. and if you just cant tell the difference then it doesnt matter because thats all i want to know
(Report)
May 25th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
oh my goodness thank you so much for this!!
I agree completely but it feels like no one else does!
what you say is absolutely right that people are trying not to get caught, taking more risks, and just getting frustrated by the congestion low speeds cause -
But even moreso than all that, i have always been very doubtful that speeding is even a big cause of crashes at all.
Of course in a number of cases people are speeding when they crash, but this does NOT mean that they crashed BECAUSE they were speeding. It is just so simplistic.
People crash because they arent good drivers, because they arent watching the road etc etc.
This should be plain obvious when we take a look at motorists in europe. I know germany for one doesnt have any speed limit at all. It is pefectly normal for cars to be driving around at 220km/h - and yet their road toll is lower than ours!!!
if the government is really desperate to make roads safer, and also make more money, they should do what germany does, and just make it REALLY expensive to get a driver licence and have more rigourous testing.
That way they make more money, drivers are of a higher quality, and there is less congestion and pollution!!
solves a lot of problems doesnt it?
It cant really be denied that these days, any encouragement for people to use more public transport is a good thing.
(Report)
June 10th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Hi, guys!
Does speed kills? It’s a yes and no.
However, here’s an article that gives us ideas on how we/the government can reduce the number of kills.
Check it out..
http://www.socyberty.com/Issue.....Free.28880
I would like to know your opinion about the ideas.
(Report)
June 15th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Excellent article. one could be forgiven for wondering why in a southern oz state they are building high speed motorways and then emplacing speed cameras. i dont quite get the logic there fellers.
(Report)
June 29th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
If you’re walking across the road and you’re hit by a car, would you prefer to be hit at 50km/h or 60km/h?
Whilst that report might tell people what they want to hear, it could hardly be considered impartial or scientific. Low on facts, high on emotive generalizations.
Of course we are all above average drivers, who never make mistakes, we can drive as fast as we want cause we have the skills. It’s all those other people that aren’t as skilled as us that are the problem.
(Report)
June 29th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
silv, i think you should turn the question around
why are you walking across the road? you should never walk across the road when there is a car coming…. that would solve the worlds problems!
(Report)
June 30th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Why does anyone cross the road? To get to the other side.
(Report)
July 5th, 2007 at 5:40 am
Silv,
yes, being hit at 50km/hr would probably cause less damage than being hit at 60km/hr but,
so would 40km/hr, 30km/hr, 20km/hr…
The point being, it becomes a matter of where to draw the line, i.e. what is safe for the conditions.
As to the matter of crossing the road, the ability of the driver has little involvement in the case… as long as all the drivers have passed reasonable test requirements.
The fact still remains that there is little statistical evidence showing that it is speed reductions which have saved lives, ergo the necessity for speed monitoring and punishment by law enforcement.
If there statistically is any evidence for a reduction in road deaths, there are also many other areas which are more likely to be the primary factors, as mentioned above.
All said, I’m not asking for an increase in road speeds, just the focus to be shifted from “are you over the speed limit?” to “are you driving safely?”.
I think that’s the real truth to the story here.
(Report)
September 6th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
mmm yeah i agree
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December 27th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
To think this country is democratic and free and … “unlike the communists” ALL THIS GODDAMN BS SPEED KILLS PROPAGANDA IS EXACTLY LIKE THE STUFF THEY DO IN THE SOVIET UNION AND CHINA etc.
Personally, i’ve seen more accidents in bad weather conditions at low speeds (~40km/hr) than spectacular movie like high speed smashes. In fact, when i’m breaking the speed limit, i’m more alert, more aware and more focused. When i’m stuck in traffic i always find myself dozing off and sometimes even fail to notice the hot women walking infront of my car. C’mon those politicians need money and if they can’t increase the taxes, they sure as hell will find other ways to steal money from the people.
Cops are corrupt. Politicians are pricks. Time to stand up for ourselves and not pay the fines we get. If we all fail to pay the fail the legal system won’t be able to deal with such a massive number of prosecutions and thus politicians should be forced to reconsider their evil plans.
(Report)