Sneaky and illegal mobile speed camera tactics
February 24, 2009 by Paul Maric
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
Print it: 
Doesn’t look too hidden to me, only if (like the photographer) you have your left wheels in the dirt and are sitting in the passenger’s seat.
Not that I’m defending these Government-sanctioned thieves of course.
It’s highway robbery, literally. Speed cameras were originally supposed to be used only in hi risk areas known to be dangerous at speed. But the message is clear, you don’t want a fine, don’t speed. We all do though, don’t we.
This occurs all the time here in Sydney
Is caradvice aware of any similar NSW legislation, i tried to have a search but couldn’t find anything.
A guy here in Perth got charged for holding a sign up warning people of a speed camera 100m ahead. Revenue raising my butt.
He also noted that it only took the Police a few minutes to turn up and take action compared to the many hours it takes for Police to turn up to a robbery.
Nice original story guys.
to me,
speed cameras are just for REVENUE RAISING
save lifes?pfft
just see where the cameras are been placed
down hill/up hill/straight wide roads
Infrared flash?
How about putting the money into the failing hospitals around Australia!
I thought thats what thay were suppose to do put cameras in black spots only.I remember when thay were first rolling out all the cameras thay said were only putting them in troubled spots yeh right
Here in qld they do the same thing constantly,
on the Gold Coast to Brisbane motorway (M1) they hide them behind trees,
also on ashmore road they sometimes hide one on the footpath so you dont see it till you pass it…
maybe ill bother to get a pic one day.
I thought I read once a reader writing into a mag that one can park their car to obstruct the camera/car if it’s on public road… I once stuck up a cardboard sign warning people of speed camera… I didn’t hang around long enough to see if cops came…
Let’s be fair to the boys and girls in blue, many of them would rather be catching proper crooks than parking cars on the side of the road (a hazard in itself), but the state governments in ALL states are broke, and the various Ministers order the Police commissioners to rake in, yes rake in, more and more revenue.
Of course, all they have to do, is buy more speed cameras (tax free) and presto – money appears.
Yes, its a joke and worse still, they use the deaths of those who have perished due to inadequate roads as a marketing tool.
The answer, no more office refurbishments, golden handshakes, or massively expensive government pension schemes for this seemingly higher order.
Only then might they have the resources to build more dual carriageways, which will unequivocally reduce the number of us who die on our roads.
Oh, and one more thing, stop placing speed cameras on straight sections of road and start placing them only at Black spots. The Scottish government proved this strategy dramatically reduces road deaths several years ago, and I am told the Victorian Government was made aware of all the data and refused to adopt it.
My guess is, that it would have cost them too much money in lost fines.
There there to make money full stop!!
although i personally feel that speed camera’s are not the answer, and some of the tactics used are certainly questionable, the fact of the matter remains that if your not breaking the law, then you have nothing to worry about. So many people don’t seem to want to acknowledge that speeding is breaking a law, the same as any other offence, and in more extreem cases you can be charged with criminal offences over it.
Quite frankly if you got caught doing 70 in a 60 zone, regardless of the positioning of the camera i don’t see how you can possibly have an argument, the speed limit is 60, you where doing more then that, its cut and bloody dry
These stupid laws should only be enforced if it can be assured that the cars’ speedometers read accurately. The only car I know that’s able to do that is the affordable Ferrari Scaglietti. As we all know, the indicated speeds can well be outside the actual by 10 or so km/h.
It’s in fact dangerous if you keep looking at your gauges being overly conscious of speed trying to avoid unjustifiably hefty fines and corresponding demerits. Doing this can actually cause you to miss a pedestrian, as a split-second of not looking in front of you could mean serious accidents.
There should also be a cruise control government subsidy (similar to LPG) for those who can’t get new cars so as for them to maintain consistent speeds.
It’s bad enough we are deprived of the thrill of speed, but in a logical sense, there shouldn’t be any fuss of going over the limit by just a little bit.
In WA they don’t even have these “can’t be obstructed” rules :(
oh and i’m not going to tell you that i never speed and i’m a goody two shoes, i regularly set my cruise control to at least 115 in 100 zones, but at the same time if and when i get speeding tickets in the mail i am man enough to accept i was doing the wrong thing and fair enough, i dont run around crying about the bloody guvmit when at the end of the day, it was my car that was speeding, not theirs.
an interesting side argument is that from what i can tell, 40km/h speed zones from my observations are religiously adhered to by the vast majority of drivers, which just goes to prove that IF you can convince the general population that speed limits are fair enough, people will stick to them.
On the flip side you have road work sites which people will stick to the reduced speed limit if there is clearly road works going on in close proximity, but when you are driving along a motorway, go to the effort of reducing your speed from 110 to 60 only to find the council workers have knocked off for the night, all the equipment has been removed, there are no barricades or anything up impeding the flow of traffic ove the road in any way, but no one has taken the bloody speed signs down… god it pees me off and the fact that in Brisbane at least it happens ALL THE BLOODY TIME is it any wonder most people ignore them?
oh and i’m not going to tell you that i never speed and i’m a goody two shoes, i regularly set my cruise control to at least 115 in 100 zones, but at the same time if and when i get speeding tickets in the mail i am man enough to accept i was doing the wrong thing and fair enough, i dont run around crying about the damn guvmit when at the end of the day, it was my car that was speeding, not theirs.
an interesting side argument is that from what i can tell, 40km/h speed zones from my observations are religiously adhered to by the vast majority of drivers, which just goes to prove that IF you can convince the general population that speed limits are fair enough, people will stick to them.
On the flip side you have road work sites which people will stick to the reduced speed limit if there is clearly road works going on in close proximity, but when you are driving along a motorway, go to the effort of reducing your speed from 110 to 60 only to find the council workers have knocked off for the night, all the equipment has been removed, there are no barricades or anything up impeding the flow of traffic over the road in any way, but no one has taken the damn speed signs down… geez it pees me off and the fact that in Brisbane at least it happens ALL THE TIME is it any wonder most people ignore them?
Al Juraj – i hear this “watching your speedo is distracting” argument all the time and mate i’m sorry but its the biggest cop out anyone has ever come up with. It’s not hard to know how fast your going, it just isn’t.
In school zones everyone agrees that its necessary to do only 40, and you know what? Everyone manages to do it, and thats the time when your most likely to hit a pedestrian, so by your logic kids should be being struck by cars outside their schools every day, but it just doesnt happen, its a cop out
if you seriously do not have the rather straigh forward ability to monitor your speed whilst still paying sufficient attention to the road then you shouldnt have a license, period.
Sorry for those who will hate me for these comments, but fellahs i speed, everyone from time to time speeds, i regularly set my speedo to AT LEAST 115 in 100 zones and all the rest of it, but at the end of the day if you get caught then thats it! tough poo if your caught doing 70 in a 60 zone, regardless of whether or not the rule is fair or the position of the speed camera, facts are YOU KNOW THE RULES AND YOU WHERE CAUGHT BREAKING THEM! Whether you agree with the rule or not, its their and you know what it is so if you get caught breaking it, you seriously have no argument what so ever
Totally agree with you Richo. I rarely intentionally speed in built up areas with 30mph sorry 50kph limits. I rarely look at the speedo, I judge my speed by engine noise, what gear I’m in and the apprent speed I’m passing stationary object. I believe you call it experience and feel.
Simple answer to speed cameras is don’t speed, No speedig = no reveneue = reduced numbers of cameras. Simple.
I think they should be hidden and should be able to use “tricks” such as boot lid up or jack out…the idea is to catch people speeding and not give them a warning to slow down.
I have racked up more points in the past than I care to mention but it’s now been 14 years since my last speeding fine. Nearly losing my licence when my I needed it for an income was the wake up call and over night my driving habits changed for the better.
I use to travel from Melbourne to Geelong daily and back then I would sit on 130 all the way only slowing down at the spots I knew the cops would sit with the radar or the sight of a Rodeo parked on the side of the road and then speed up when out of sight. Maybe if I could not see the cameras and gotten a fine or 2 from a hidden cameras or a camera on old “broken down” car I might have woken up sooner.
I hate speed cameras as much as the next guy.
But seeing countless idiots on the road doing 130kmph on a 100kmph zone, you always wish they get busted.
However sometimes, when there road condition changes, where speed limit is usually, lets say, 100kpmh, went down to 80kmph, and the driver did not realize it due to the lack of warning signs, then you might have an argument.
This usually occurs in the western ringroad in Melbourne.
Bottomline though, you shouldnt be speeding period. If you choose to, hopefully there are no one else on the road while you do so, but just dont complain if you get booked…
So which one of you journos at Cardadvice got booked and how far over the speed limit were you going? I noticed how the author of this piece conveniently left their name off.
2 things. 1. As everyone should know IF You DONT Speed you wont be fined and 2. If by a innicent mistake you get caught speeding by less than 15km here in Victoria and do NOT make it a habit you can get the fine waived and replaced with a warning if its your 1st in 2 years. I am not a slow driver but I generally make sure I do not go over the speed Limit which I use a GPS device to determine. It tells me when I have crept over the speed limit and its speedo is more accurate. These GPS devices can be used even if not being used to get from Point A to Point B and just for the Speed awareness they are worth it. You can check up the part about receiving a warning to replace the actual fine at the Victoria Police website. I have only had 2 speeding tickets in 20 years and actually the other day just written to get mine substituted as my previous speeding ticket (both by speed camera’s) was 5 years earlier. So I don’t believe they are plainly revenue raises for the reasons above.
Al Juraj, what are you on about? Many speedos here in Australia actually show a higher speed than the car is doing, to make sure that an indicated 100kph isn’t 103 or whatever. According to two GPS units, my car is travelling at 96-97kph when cruising at an indicated 100kph on cruise control.
If you are that concerned that your speedo is so inaccurate that you could be speeding, then either get it checked out or do an indicated 30kph below the speed limit.
And lol at the “looking at my speedo is distracting” comment, if keeping an eye on your speed is such a problem, I’d hate to be driving anywhere near you, I might distract you and you could have a crash!!
Whilst I agree that if you don’t speed you don’t have to worry, I am more for scrapping the Camera Vans (Qld) and replacing them with Hi Vis small cars (like the panda cars in the UK. Have these Corollas Focuses or whatever constantly on the road just driving around.
Simply put, watch the traffic when there is a camera around, it slows down for maybe a kilometer then just goes back to doing what it was doing. Now same traffic but remove the camera and put a patrol car there. All of a sudden everybody starts to behave! Phones get put down,indicators actually get used before people look into their mirrors to change lanes and people obay the spped limit until the patrol car is well and truly gone.
Another question, if a camera snaps a car doing 140km/h in a 100 zine and 100 meters down the road the offending car is involved in a fatal accident, is the operating officer then liable for deriliction of duty for witnessing a crime and doing nothing to actually stop it from happening??
Whilst I don’t believe on this occasion the camera was obscured, I do see so many on perfect stretches of road that are and I agree with the author. Regardless of whether they themselves were caught out, there are plenty of stretches of dangerous roads where speed has far more potential to cause dmamage than the ones they generally target. Perhaps we could see a similar system to the UK adopted here, whereby speed cameras are painted bright yellow and are only placed in areas where no other methods have stopped accidents from happening.
In South Australia [In the hills] i have seen a speed-camera located in a wheelie bin.
The bin had a cut out which you could not see approaching it, with the lens behind it.
The leads where impossible to see and ran to a car parked up a pathway.
TOTAL b/s really….
Cheers
F-0
i was told by someone a while ago car manufacturers have a 10% leeway on the acuracy of their speedos that they put in cars yet the government gives the driver a 2-3% leeway….
When will the make ‘keep left unless overtaking’ cameras…
Frugal,
That wheelie bin camera you talk about is a one off special, designed to catch the motorcycle hoons on specific identified “race loops”.
And I understand that they caught dozens of bikes on one Sunday afternoon, all 25+ km/h over the limit.
To everyone using the ‘if you’re not speeding you have nothing to worry about’ argument, I don’t think that is the point here. This is an issue of respecting the public.
The point is the dishonest approach used by the police and the state governments and the lack of respect shown to drivers and taxpayers. Speed cameras don’t save lives positioned on safe stretches of road (where the majority are)- end of story. Positioned around black spots, schools etc – they would serve a much more useful purpose. But the fact of the matter is that the primary use of these cameras is revenue raising, not saving lives.
We all know this is true. But the police and government will deny this to the cows come home. That’s where the problem lies. A lack of respect to the public. If they don’t respect us, why should we respect them on this matter? I have raised this point before on a previous post – I would be happier if speeding infringements where simply a points deduction, and if they need the revenue so badly, introduce a police levy spread out over the entire tax paying population at $20 a year or whatever.
This would be a much more effective than the pathetic, continual lying.
the other down side of cameras is the lack of discretionary judgement.
Say for example all the above cars were traveling at 90km/h in an 80 Zone. All would supposedly be fined. However if there was an oficer there doing the booking, he could under his educated judgement say that the traffic is moving safely and smoothly so let them continue. However in the same group, if say the silver Accord was weaving and tailgaiting etc he could then opull him over as being dangerous. Thus more likely to save a life.
Well then Jimmy, beat them at their own game. DON’T SPEED, Its as simple as that. Then they don’t get the supposed compulsory revenue that you and others say they are raising, Simple solution. Take more care on the road and don’t be so complacent. If you are not competant enough to be aware of the speed you are going on the road then you should not be driving.
To all those people that suggest that ‘if you don’t speed you wont get fined’, I would like them to consider a hypothetical situation where 95% of drivers (all the normally law abiding ones) did not speed anymore. Who would compensate the government for the huge loss in revenue? Would our rego, license & tax costs increase? – Probably yes. Would the road toll reduce? – Probably no.
Speed cameras, in most cases, are for revenue raising & not for promoting safety as the police spin doctors would have us believe
I understand your point Frosty and I agree that people shouldn’t speed, but that isn’t the issue I was trying to raise.
I’m talking about the underlying purpose of speed cameras, and I think that is what the article is trying to point out also. There is an obvious abuse of power and twisting of laws happening with speed cameras which isn’t being acknowledged by the enforcers. I just can’t stand the hypocrisy and dishonesty blatantly fed to us regarding the purpose of the cameras. It is a massive insult to our intelligence.
for all of you hell bent in thinking of them as nothing more then revenue raisers, then fine consider this, speeding tickets are a VOLUNTARY tax, if you don’t speed, you don’t have to pay it!!! what a concept…
Yep. That’s a simple concept Richo. Very, very simple.
Speed camera fines are a USER PAYS TAX…….User the lead foot….Pay the tax.
If speed cameras save lives then name the persons where it can be proven that lives have been saved. Guns save lives too – if you’re the one holding the gun. Better roads and better driver education will save lives but unfortunately it costs money and doesn’t make any extra revenue for the govt. Time to get rid of the cameras and concentrate on real road safety.
i dont get it , everybody seems to know the real meaning behind location(not the black spots) of the cameras, we all know they make money on us, yet you all seat (you f… pussies) and whinge, how unhaapy you all are, why dont we all (10 000 000 motorists)get together and write petition after petition and force the governement to change the way they treat us ,the motorists.why does not each one of you contest the speeding fine, but pays it becouse has no time etc.
I just love the mindlessness of the “law is the law and must be obeyed to the letter or you should be severely punished” people! Momentarily going 3km/h over a deliberately super-low speed limit is an utterly trifling, technical offence only. If it really was dangerous, why have a third of the senior Victoria Police just been revealed as speeders?? Ditto for the TAC executives. Read my lips – IT IS A SCAM. For those yelling for absolute compliance – lets put a domestic compliance camera in your house and monitor you! Can you guarantee you don’t break any laws?? Maybe abusive language? racial vilification?? We are on a terrifying slippery slope to high tech totalitarianism!!
i agree, speed cameras are revenue raisers, but at the same time the laws need to be respected, sure lots of innocent drivers were caught, but that’s life. Respect the law, its there to protect us all “seriously”
ya, i agree, Lorda y didn\’t ya come to a party, i missed ya. damn
I simply detest paying more to the government than I have to, so I do not speed. This concept may be difficult to understand. If you can not control the speed of your vehicle, the next problem you may have is with the direction of travel, would you suggest we have padding on the side of every corner and that you may not be at fault if you crash… Learn how to drive people!
Speed cameras…..how often have we seen cameras placed in areas which on the face of it are not dangerous sections of road nor has there been a fatality but the cameras continually appear there. Plain revenue raising I suggest!