Five decommissioned highway patrol cars have been used by New South Wales police to try to encourage good driving behaviour, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Parked on the side of the road around Goulburn and the Hume Highway for close to two weeks, the front seats of the cars were decked out in a police cap and fluoro vest to discourage speeding. (Can a seat be charged for impersonating a police officer I wonder?)
A police spokeswoman said members of the Southern Region Highway Patrol thought “instead of keeping them in a car park before they get sold we’ll put them on the side of the road [so they can] act as a deterrent”.
Police confirmed the vehicles have now been removed and replaced by real officers in functional cars.
Obviously the NSW Opposition had a field day with it, with roads and ports spokesman, Andrew Stoner, calling it an “absurd move”.
“Dressing up car seats with a fluoro jacket and cap is no replacement for highway patrol cops.
“Rather than stunts like dummy cops … the state Labor Government should be building better, safer roads and boosting highway patrols,” he said.
(with the Sydney Morning Herald)
I reckon those dummies could have been put to better use….like running the state of NSW.
here here…and the opposition party as well.
Yep, on the 7pm Project last night George Negus was right. Abolish all state governments.
I know there would be a lot of bureacrats on welfare because they wouldn’t know how to survive in the real world, but i think the billions saved would far outweigh that.
On a related (to the story) note, I think they removed those cars because they were afraid they would,ve been vanalised or torched.
I have been saying this for years
Im with Negus. Go for a Civil war and whichever state triumphs is the new leader of our newfound country.
Running NSW is their day job, this stint at Goulburn was overtime
I’m the first one to criticize the cops for hiding behind trees and pinging hapless motorists on flat stretches of road.
However, I don’t have a problem with this story above.
Basically the cops are (in a very lazy fashion) doing what they should be doing. Being visible during a dangerous period on the road. Their visiblity probably made many drivers keep to the speed limit and may have saved one or two lives.
The danger is that people will start hating the cops for not actually doing their job and may vandalise the vacant cars.
One other comment. you would be a fool to speed near Goulburn at any time of the year. All the trainee highway patrol cadets always stake out that stretch as the police academy is only 5 mins down the road.
Ive live in Goulburn for 12 years and never once have i been pinged for speeding, just don’t do it on the bypass or near Marulan, or on Lake George . . .
Can ne1 give the inside goss on what speed u can get away with between Syd and Canb? I always do 120 and havent been pinged.
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How long before they get stolen? Or the rims pinched?
They’re also doing this on the South Coast (shoalhaven area) last week.
On 5 different occassions i saw the same red cop care parked un-manned in 5 different spots. On every occassion motorists on both sides of the highway were slowing down, as well as flashing there headlights to warn on coming traffic.
I think it’s a great idea, which obviously works. I don’t see what’s wrong with it and why people whinge about it.
Late 80′s early 90′s Qld police put a cardbaord cutout of a Motorcycle cop standing by his bike on the Gold Coast Hyway to prove that police presence was the best (although not the most profitable) means of reducing the road toll… For that weekend the area (notorious for speed and accidents) was incident free…
This story again reinforces the fact that visual presence is a far greater life saver than hidden camera’s and Q cars…
I still believe that instead of one camera van (qld) at $60,000, three hi vis Corollas / Focus’ or whatever would have a far greater effect at reducing the majority of speedsters as well as stopping people from txting, putting lippy on, driving erratically etc. You know the things that fill out the 60% Void. After all 40% of all fatalities involve speed don’t they??
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Yeah?? Watch what happens when you see a Hilux Divvy van on the road, Don’t see everyone trying to outrun them?? But I do see people put their phones down and indicate when changing lanes.!!
I get your point SF, and it’s a good one. Anything that makes people concentrate on the road and generally observe road etiquette is a good thing. i have personally had a couple of close encounters with idiots on their phones.
Its just the idea of a police corolla cracks me up. I wasn’t having a go at you. In fact i’ll thank you for giving me a good laugh.
Imagine a Hwy patrol cop in a corolla, he would feel so emasculated, he wouldn’t bother giving chase for fear of being laughed at by the car full of people he just pulled over : )
A few Cop Lancers getting around, they\’re not H.P cars obviously but they are good for a laugh when you pull up next to them in the SS. Id rather an unmaned Highway car giving me the fright to slow down compared to a ticket, would be funny to drive past one on bricks too!
No Drama’s Falc’ if you want a good laugh, the HP up here (north Brisbane) has a Black VR-X lancer sedan that they have been using to the point that everyone knows which black VR-X Lancer is their and which ones belong to the public…
Speeding gets you a fine.
Failing to stop, Dangerous driving and what ever else the Carollas onboard camera captures will get you a house call later if you are able to give the police car the slip.
Seriously, everyone slows down when they see a cop car or even think they see a cop car or camera installation ahead. Easy for the NSW opposition to say “absurd move”, but why not, if these cars were decommissioned, like the cops said it’s better than leaving them in a car park. Creative thinking by cops, should be applauded not mocked.
No, what should be applauded is if they actually did real police work like preventing break and enters and vandalism, this only encourages that. Pinging people for doing 5 or 10ks over the limit when roads and cars can handle much higher speeds should not only be mocked, but not tolerated as well.
The cars might be capable of the speeds, the drivers on the other hand…………….
Regards
Whitbomb07
Yeah, but thats always going to be the unknown no matter what the speed limit is. All i’m saying is there are roads that could handle higher speeds.
The Newell Hwy has, or is just about to have its speed limit reduced from 110 to 90 in some places which will increase travel times and the risk of fatigue. A lot of trucks use that road so you can imagine what could happen.
I would bet that a lot of accidents the authorities blame on speed are actually the cause of fatigue. The speed limits in this country are antiquated and ridiculous in a lot of cases.
This is rubbish.
It’s as bad as fixed speed camera’s, everyone knows where they are so they all slow down. Then as soon as they’ve turned the corner they put their foot back down.
What does this do? Nothing I say.
Regards
Whitbomb07
No excuse for speeding whether it’s 1 or 40 kms over the limit we are all aware of the limits so don’t go over it… dont blame the police for your own actions… personlly i would like more police on the roads… speed get caught pay the money for going beyond what the limit is clearly advertised at. and dont whine when you get caught!
Thanks Michael, for pointing out the obvious. It depends of course on whether you think the speed limit has been set with regard to road condition and traffic volume, and not, as is so often the case these days, just becuase that’s the speed somebody thinks you should drive at.
And of course you are such the expert that you beleive that the limits are always too low… Australia is well known fo its high quality roads and low numbers of motor vehicle accidents… the chances of surviving collisions at over 100kph are slim… but thats alright Australias far to over populated anyway…
Don’t put words in my mouth, Mikey boy. Who said anything about believing the limits are always too low? In fact, I don’t think that at all – some limits are too high.
So the speed you think the roads conditions are suitable are better informed than those formulated by the RTA Yonny? just curious as to how your thoughts are better than someones who is paid to formulate such descisions based upon actual data and having formal qualifications to interprete such data
Not putting words into your mouth just stating the obvious…
Laurie, I voiced my opinion, that is all. Obviously my opinion is worth far less than the considered conclusion of an RTA road engineer – and I am fully aware of this.
Nevertheless, you don’t have to have a degree in road engineering to have an opinion about the roads you travel on frequently.
I was thinking specifically of a few roads I am aware of, where the road has undergone significant upgrading, yet, when reopened, the road carries a lower speed limit. When traffic volumes haven’t changed, and the RTA’s own assessment of the road hasn’t changed, and the road is not considered to be a black spot (and all of this info is freely available on the net) then you have to wonder what the reason was behind the speed limit change.
Formal qualifications doesn’t equal common sense and thats what these often faceless, nameless bureacrats lack. The amount of different speed limits they have for roads that dont change is ridiculous!
There’s a good examle of their stupidity at Clybucca Flats just north of Kempsey. There’s a school zone on the Pacific Hwy. First there is the ‘school zone ahead’ sign, then a short distance after that your in the school zone, which means you have to go from 100 to 40 in a very short distance. And if you miss the first sign and dont realize the traffic in front has slowed down to a crawl then the potential for disaster is huge!
Now anyone with an ounce of COMMON SENSE would realize this but apparently not one of those educated idiots see a problem with it.
@ Falcodore: I know the school zone you are talking about, I go through on the way to Coffs and have nearly had an accident when the person in front of me (who mustn’t have been paying attention) suddenly jammed on the brakes – despite it being during school holidays. Its a joke. Surely parents are not dropping their kids off on the northbound side of the highway and expecting them to cross?!?!?!
One time when I have a passenger I’m going to get them to count the number of speed zone changes between Newcastle and Coffs, its stupid. Indeed common sense isn’t that common.
betcha the dummies did a better job than the normal cops would of….
This is a very smart move from the cops. The Opposition is just doing what they are meant to be doing, opposing. Very smart move. An even better move would have been to line up a couple of them in places with the Undercover F6′s and GTS’s, and have their lights flashing to slow down drivers from a mile away. I think this shouls be done an a daily basis, but dont use highway patrol, just use the XT’s and Omega’s, and then have the highway patrol cars where they should be.
I drove past them last week and thought “wow there are a lot of cops about”.
Sure, the locals and truckies would know they are fake – but it slowed everyone else down for a bit.
I agree it would be better to have more cops on the road because then people behave. But if the cars were just going to be sitting around they did more good parked on the side of the expressway.
Smart thinking!!
Q:What’s the difference between a decommissioned police vehicle and the nsw state government.
A:The decommissioned police vehicle is still useful.
ah….. how did the cops make any $ from this operation, all they have acheived here is slowing people down and saving lives.
but no money!!
ah…. hang on!