Sneaky and illegal mobile speed camera tactics
It pays to know the law and one of our readers has spotted a law-bending mobile speed camera operator in action, totally ignoring the policy set out by the Victorian government.
The operating policy set out by the Victoria Police Traffic Camera Office state some of the many rules behind mobile speed cameras operating, one of which refers to attempting to hide a mobile speed camera. The following clause:
Camera Concealment / Disguise
To maintain community confidence in the mobile speed camera initiative, it is important for the operational use of the device to be seen as fair and reasonable. Under no circumstances are camera vehicles, tripods or portable flash units (when used) to be disguised by signs, logos, breakdown of vehicle (boot open or spare wheel / jack visible etc), tree branches, lamp posts, rubbish bins or any other covert means.
States quite clearly that the mobile speed camera vehicles cannot be hidden by foliage.
With the visible flash unit now removed from most of these vehicles - in favor of an infrared flash - drivers don't know they have been booked until weeks after the offence. Arguably, if the driver is speeding on that particular day and at that particular moment, who's to say they're not more likely to have an accident that day due to the excessive speed?
Surely an immediate indicator is more likely to quell the driver's need to speed, opposed to a delayed notice weeks later.
This is one of the main reasons so many members of the public - and our latest poll - think speed cameras are a mere form of revenue raising.
We'd love to see speed cameras in death hotspots. One of these hotspots is the 'killer bridge' in Victoria, near Toolern Vale. The bridge sees countless quarry trucks barrel through at well over the speed limit, loaded to the hilt with cargo. The countless deaths on this small stretch of road are more than worth of speed cameras targeting trucks - the main cause of accidents.
Instead, we see speed cameras plastered throughout perfect stretches of road (like the freeway from Melbourne to Geelong) which hasn't seen a speed caused fatality for almost a decade.
What do you think about speed cameras and more importantly, their misuse?
Mobile speed camera policy: http://www.justice.vic.gov.au//wps/wcm/connect/Road+Safety/resources/file/eb167d08c3f414d/VictoriaPoliceMobileSpeedCameraPolicy_and_OperationsManual.pdf
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