Police move to protect speed camera operators
July 16, 2009 by Paul Maric
Operators of mobile speed cameras in South Australia will now receive an added layer of protection from would be vigilantes.
A protective coating on the glass of operator’s vehicles – preventing the windows from shattering – will be implemented in the hope of reducing potential injury following a recent spate of rock throwing by motorists.
In addition to the glass protection, warning signs will also be removed making the speed cameras virtually invisible to the naked eye.
Public Service Association general secretary Jan McMahon said she was pleased the safety of camera operators was being addressed but disappointed about how long police had taken to act.
“We wrote to (police) on April 2 and we’ve only got this response since members started taking (industrial) action,” she said.
“Over the past seven days, the PSA is aware of two incidents involving rocks being thrown at cars that PSA members were in.
“In one case, an operator was checked for glass in his eyes at hospital.
“Clearly the lost revenue must have been the trigger for (police) to provide us with the safety that we should have had months ago.”
On the other hand though, RAA principal engineer Peter Tsokas said the removal of camera signs was concerning.
“The RAA would prefer the signs remained because they have an immediate impact on motorists,” he said.
“If a driver passes a speed camera and then sees a sign, that can make them alter their driving behaviour by slowing down. On the other hand, if they don’t see a sign, the first they will know about it will be eight or more days later when they get the fine.”
South Australia’s Traffic Camera Uni (TCU) has told CarAdvice that it operates 18 cameras across South Australia and has netted 24,000 motorists between July 1st, 2008 and April 30th, 2009. That’s an average of 1333 per camera vehicle, or 41 motorists for each camera vehicle site.
The one thing both bodies fail to admit though is that the ‘Speed Kills’ campaign seldom explains that exceeding the speed limit has never been the sole factor behind any fatal or non-fatal car accidents. The only visible benefit of speed cameras is to generate revenue and attempt to slow drivers down, forgetting the all important factor of driver education and training.
Print it: 
It’s obvious the gov. is more worried about revenue raising than saving lives.
Sad but true.
Removal of the speed camera signs? crazy…
Luckily i can pinpoint the buggers myself!
The authorities will never admit that speeding isn’t the only contributing factor to road accidents.
Why throw rocks when bricks are so much better?
Reducing the visible police presence on the road does NOT improve road safety.
Perhaps if they placed the cameras in the right spots to improve road safety, rather than targeting the easy picking revenue raising spots there wouldn’t be so much backlash.
Having said that, anyone who is peurile enough to throw rocks at a speed camera operator should have the book thrown at then. Maybe they should have addressed the problem instead of this pathetic bandaid fix.
Just another example of Mike Rann and his useless mob getting it horribly wrong again.
DesignEng©™,
Agreed, however it’s the antire labour goverments nation wide that share this outdated, fat cat approach to road safety.
Did i mention i got off my last speed camera ticket?[Dont ask, worked a treat, going to *use* it again and again....]
Throwing rocks is a bit over the top, perhaps if the opposition goverenment promised to abolish speed cameras it might have a change to get back in…
Cheers
F-0
Nobody deserves to get glass in their eyes just for doing their job – even if their job is to assist the government in ripping people off. However, I understand the frustration of someone so angry at blatant revenue raising that they momentarily lose control….
LOL, revenue raising…I have a sure fire way to put these speed camera operators out of a job with out throwing a single rock. Don’t Speed!
To date I have not had a single fine in almost 10 years of driving. If I do get one in fair conditions of course, it will be my fault for speeding and I will cop it on the chin like a man.
Although the likelihood of me getting that first ticket increases about 500% every time I head out for a squirt on the bike.
C’mon now FrugalOne!
What’s your secret? :-)
Speed does not kill. The sudden stop does. I don’t disagree that speed can be a factor to a crash, but, so can fatigue, distractions, alcohol, drugs (prescription or otherwise)
So how do you police every driver? And have speed cameras actually reduced road deaths? Every holiday i hear on the news that the death toll is higher than the year before. Speed cameras were originally only going to be used in areas know as high risk. So since when is a long straight highway or suburban street “High Risk”
As for the rock throwing, what do you expect from Adelaide?
When it comes to reducing the road death toll the government and police have NO IDEA AT ALL.
Increased mobile and fixed speed cameras DOES NOT REDUCE accidents, it only infuriates drivers.
If they were really genuinely interested in road safety they would promote ROAD SAFETY, not promote the introduction of more revenue raising tactics.
Bleeding the Australian people out of their hard earned wages is not the answer.
There are ways to not contribute to Government coffers and the most obvious one is DO NOT SPEED. Having said that I will say that I too have been caught speeding over my 22 years of driving and are yet to pay a ticket for the last 18 years of that and yes I have had some in those 18 years. BUT as I have said to those who blatantly call it revenue raising. Fines have always been there for speeding and even if more Police were on the roads catching speeding motorists there would still be people unhappy about copping a speeding fine and would still whinge about revenue raising. Having speed cameras does the same job and allows police to focus their resources on other crime on the streets. I know I would prefer they spend their time on catching rapists/murderers etc. And I am totally for not letting people know where they are because thats just allowing people to slow down when approaching one and then speed up again once past which totally defeats the purpose. And anyone who threatens, intimidates or assaults one of the operators or damages a vehicle should get a mandatory hefty gaol term.end of story.
Forgot to mention in my last that it is a voluntary tax so it really cannot be truthfully called revenue raising because its not a compulsory tax like registration, licencing etc.
i still think that its unfair,unaustralian,undemocratic,unethical,un WHATEVER,that anyone can be fined for speeding,without being fined on the spot.i bet most metro people couldn’t even remember where they’ve been speeding,when the fine comes in the mail.no wonder the cops have reduced the points system for speeding,scores of people were losing their licence,and clogging up the courts,when all the gov’t wants is their coin…
It is simple physics that you’re less likely to die in a lower speed car crash than in a higher speed crash.
Don’t agree? Bang your head against the wall at 10kph and then repeat at 50kph.
If you think speed cameras don’t reduce deaths, you can only be correct if you can prove that people don’t slow down without speed cameras; ie. that the average speed on our roads would be lower if all the speed cameras were taken away.
But I guess then there are those who think the moon landing never occurred so anything is possible.
if it was the police doing the operating of the camera’s then there would be no issues in relation to people throwing rocks. the early days police were doing camera duties it is only recently when they hired camera operators
that this started.perhaps these camera operators need video play recording of frontal and rear of their vehicle while in operation. or start using marked vehicles (police) doing camera duties.i am sure that the government wil work out a solution if it see dollars, sorry for being so sinicle.
How long has the “Every K over is a killer” campaign been running? And how successful has it been? How long has the government thought the best approach to deter speeders is their wallet? A definition of crazy is to continually do the same thing and expect a different result. Maybe we need to adopt a “Don’t blame them, train them” Approach?
If you get caught speeding, instead of a fine make the offender attend a driving course. In more extreme cases show them photos of accident scenes.
RoFlmaTiC:
The physics behind an accident are almost entirely irrelevant unless nothing else contributed to the accident.
If you’re inattentive and run into the back of a stopped car, your speed only contributes to the severity of the impact.
If I’m doing 200km/h and react 10-seconds earlier than another driver doing the speed limit of 100km/h my risk of crashing hasn’t increased.
Sure, speed is a contributing factor but why don’t the government attempt using speed camera revenue to train drivers? That double ended approach would work much better than burying heads in sand and claiming that exceeding the speed limit is the one and only result of fatal accidents.
The quality of drivers in Australia is absolutely appalling in comparison to the rest of the western world. The only way this will change is with proper training – not a brain washing scheme to earn money.
Frosty / J&H,
In this case it is the signs that are placed AFTER the camera location. They are designed to alert drivers that they have BEEN THROUGH the radar.
For those NOT speeding it generates a police presence, for those that ARE SPEEDING it generates the Oh Shoot! responce.
Either way it is police visability that is a good thing.
BTW I don’t disagree with any of the comments about better training etc.
DesignEng©™
In QLD we have signs that say “Speed Camers Used In This Area”
It makes me tap the break, even if i am on the limit.
TS,
Yeah got them in SA as well.
What annoys me is the signs posted BEFORE speed/red light camera intersections where the traffic all slows to 7-8 km/h below the limit, then speeds up straignt after. And morons still get caught??
Last time I was in QLD nobody ever drove “on the limit”.
Qld is the place where those doing ONLY 3 k’s over get harrassed for going too slow isn’t it?
I am an Adelaide boy who absconded to Brisbane back in 1995. Every time i visit Adelaide i am impressed with the driver attitudes. I think in QLD it is a case of Population + poor attitude + limited time + bad roads = terrible drivers.
Paul, you have totally missed my point.
Your post suggests that you think that I am implying that speed cameras reduce the number of accidents.
I’m not saying it reduces the number of accidents, but I am saying that is an UNDISPUTABLE fact that it will reduce the proportion of accidents that are fatal.
Of course driver training would be the best way of reducing the number of accidents, but given the outrage over having to pay fines for speeding, why does everyone seem so happy to pay extra tax to fund these driving courses?
RoFlmaTiC:
I’m not missing your point, there is no evidence to suggest that not exceeding the speed limit will reduce the number of fatal accidents.
I don’t think anyone is asking for an extra fund to support driver training. Simply to divert speed camera revenue into these programs.
They are the only way we will reduce fatal and non-fatal car accidents. Speed cameras are a stop gap to fill the government coffers.
QLD has the worst roads in the civilized world! They have a government that has no clue how to design roads. Take the new gateway motor-way project for example. It will not fix the congestion rather I guarantee it will make it worse. I would put money on the fact that there are more accidents on QLD freeways than in state freeway system in Australia. I live in Brissy too so I know 1st hand.
As far as speed cameras go they are designed for revenue and the revenue they reap in Australia is astounding.
I’ve driven for 23 years and been booked for speeding 4 times by getting pulled over and being handed a speeding fine by a policeman and 5 times by mobile speed camera. Its the speed camera ones that annoy me the most, why? Three were for 67k’s in a 60 zone and two were for 77k’s in a 70 zone. Each time cost me $50. Its amazing each camera got me for 7k’s over each time. 7k’s is not speeding. Whilst some are angry some people are nutjobs and vent their anger violently.
Everyone here realizes that better education is the key. They should use the fines to pay for driver education. With the money left over the government can pay for real engineers to build better roads instead of handing crayons to kindergarden kids and using their scribble to form the basis for Australian roads.
“there is no evidence to suggest that not exceeding the speed limit will reduce the number of fatal accidents”
I thought my above example which applied basic physics was enough evidence but I guess we have to agree to disagree.
With respect to using the money to pay for driver training, one does not simply divert this money to training without another part of the federal budget somewhere missing out, (just as one does not simply walk into mordor :D).
Totally agree with you Sam-R Queenland roads suck
its just all road works EVERYWHERE.
Qld police are getting lazy and letting cameras do their job.
There should be out on the roads and pulling over the agressive idiots on the roads, the fools that tailgate and cut you off and treat the raods like a race track they don’t have the driving skills for.
The are far more dangerous than people only doing 7km over the speed limit.
Speed doesn’t kill – IDIOTS DO
“Speed doesn’t kill – IDIOTS DO”
But it is the idiots that do speed,even the odd motoring journo that some here regard as little gods,in the borrowed Ferrari.
I agree poor training leads to inattention,poor judgement the issue in many accidents & speeding is often due to a lack of attention.
It matters not if you drift 10k’s over the limit or do it wilfully the reaction distance & stopping distance increases.
Those who will speed wilfully & almost always in inappropriate places deserve to be treated in an arbitrary way & detected with the least cost to the tax payer.
Heard the rants about the lazy cops before,what a joke.
Enough I am off to buy new tyres.
Sorry, but didn’t we all agree to abide by the road laws?
Didn’t we sign an agreement the day we got our license?
You, know, the one that includes speed limits, traffic lights,etc, so we don’t all smash up our beloved cars, and our bodies, and children?
Last year I got hit by a person who ran a red light, and I can tell you I DID NOT get out of my wrecked car (after I had washed it!!!) and say, “no worries, plus or minus 10 seconds for traffic lights is ok, I’ll spend a few days in hospital and 15k at my own expense…”
So saying a speed limit might, might mean its ok to go 10,20,30 k faster, is like saying “I have no regard for the original agreement, and I have no regard for others”
And,
I’m not a saint when it comes to the speed limit, but hasn’t anyone noticed how more relaxed driving can be when most people travel at the speed limit?
I know I’m less worried when I don’t speed and happy to pass a speed camera knowing I’m not going to contribute more of MY money to gov’t coffers.
Ok so where does all this money go? Does it go to driver training? Does it go to Roads? Is it reducing the toll? Operators get rocks thrown at them, because they are generally placed at the bottom of hills ! Plus speeds on the same roads are constantly changing with sign locations moving. In SA we have a case were off one 60klm road turn left id 50klms for 20 meters of deserted dry parkland. However opposite side of the same road its still 60klms. If this is not revenue raising than what isnt !
I vote for crushing the speed camera cars – with a few pollies in it for good measure.