The RAC calls for speeding fines to be doubled during holiday periods

According to an independent review, DOUBLE-DEMERIT penalties in Western Australia have NOT cut road deaths.

In fact the figures show fatal car crashes have jumped almost 50 per cent on holidays and long weekends since double-demerit points came into force in 2002.

The revelations have sparked calls from the RAC for fines – not just demerit points – to be doubled to send motorists a “sharp message”.

That would mean the fine for not wearing a seat belt would jump from $500 to $1000 and the penalty for exceeding the speed limit by 15km/h would rise from $150 to $300 during double-demerit periods.

A report by independent researcher Synovate showed the average number of fatal crashes during double-demerit times was 0.71 a day in 2008 compared with 0.48 a day in 2002 – an increase of 48 per cent.

The report also showed the average number of crashes causing injury during double-demerit periods had increased by nearly two a day between 2004 and 2008, rising from 15.31 to 17.02.

WA has about 40 double-demerit days each year, including the Easter and Christmas breaks.

RAC spokesman Matt Brown said stiffer penalties should be considered to reinforce the impact of double demerits.

“We think the Government should look at whether financial penalties should be doubled on holiday periods as well, to send an even sharper message to people,” he said.

“These are the most dangerous times on our roads and you have to accept a higher responsibility to act safely during those times.”

Mr Brown said more cars on the road at holiday time had contributed to the increasing toll, but he called for a review of the demerits policy to ensure the scheme was having an impact.

“The double-demerits system has a good awareness level and strong support in the community, but that doesn’t mean the system we introduced all those years ago doesn’t need to evolve,” he said.

Mr Brown also wants double demerits for drivers using mobile phones without a hands-free set. Currently only speeding, drink-driving and seatbelt offences attract double demerits.

Opposition road safety spokeswoman Margaret Quirk agreed stiffer fines and penalties should be considered, but Police Minister Rob Johnson said existing double-demerits legislation was reducing the total number of crashes on WA roads. He said the Government had no plans to double fines.

Office of Road Safety executive director Iain Cameron said the increase in holiday fatalities between 2001and 2008 was significantly lower than fatal crashes in non-holiday periods.

INDEPENDENT MP Bob Such is thousands of dollars out of pocket after losing a court battle against a speeding fine.

The long-serving MP and former Liberal Cabinet minister had challenged the accuracy of hand held laser guns in the Adelaide Magistrates Court after police detected him travelling at 69km/h in a 50km/h zone at Aberfoyle Park in January 2008.

Dr Such went to trial, telling the court he was not speeding and questioning other errors made by the motorbike officer, Constable Gregory Thompson, who issued a $300 fine.

Today, Magistrate Joanne Tracy found “the laser was operated and read correctly” and therefore, Dr Such was guilty of speeding.

She found Dr Such had not proved the laser was inaccurate.

The court heard he had no previous convictions for speeding.

She ordered Dr Such pay the original fine, plus prosecution trial and hearing costs totalling $1020. He was also ordered to pay court costs and a victims of crime levy.

Dr Such – who has represented the southern suburbs electorate of Fisher since 1989 – has previously said the cost of preparing a defence was about $10,000.

He had said he was fighting the fine because “you cannot put a price on integrity”.

During the trial, Dr Such had sought a court order for independent testing of the police laser gun, which was refused.

Isn’t that simply disgusting? If you can’t seek an independant test of the police laser guns, how can you possibly defend your innocence in court? This is how bad the system has become – and proves how bad they want to keep their revenue raising cash register’s flaws a secret.

Outside court, a surprised Michael Woods, for Dr Such, said the finding would be appealed to the Supreme Court.

He said the ruling would affect ordinary members of the public who could not afford to contest a fine.

“`There’s a lot of members of the public that are left in a similar position where the cost of fighting these matters is ridiculous and its outweighed with the weight against the accused,” Mr Woods said.

“It’s almost got to the position where it’s a reversal of the onus of proof and that’s what scares the poor members of the public off on these sort of matters because you can’t afford to fight it.”

He said he found it surprising the police would not hand over the laser “that they so cherish” for independent testing.

“I would have thought that in this day and age we could be more open about that.”

A motorcyclist from Queensland won his day in court, beating an alleged speeding ticket of 92km/h in a 60km/h zone.

What was interesting about his case, was that when he questioned the police officer whom wrote him the ticket on the day, it was discovered that the NINE people before [him] and FOUR people after him had also been booked for…. wait for it…. 92km/h in a 60km/h zone.

The ramifications of this information coming to light suggested the police officer was not actually using the laser gun to book speeding motorists, but instead keeping the same reading (92km/h) showing on the display of the laser gun. Unless a laser gun is activated, it continues to display the last speed clocked on it’s display.

The police officer got caught out in this case because the rider knew there was no way he was doing the accused 92km/h. And seriously, how stupid does one have to be to write FIFTEEN consecutive tickets all at the same speed?

This just goes to show the corruption, laziness and many other words one could write about the speed ticket business. Imagine a sworn police officer fabricating alleged speeds in order to book motorists, by using the same reading on his laser gun FIFTEEN times in a row! It’s absolutely disgusting, but no doubt, no disclipinary action will be taken on the officer.

Here is the rider’s take on the court proceedings:

“With the police officer in the witness box all sworn in I was questioning the constable’s road position at the time (15 months ago on Mt Mee).

We exchanged some technical questions about the laser device calibration and after some 10 min into the questioning time I wanted to know how long he spent that day booking people.

This question was to lead into the laser gun being used that whole day coming down the mountain, something that is not allowed according to the rules on the device.

At this point the constable started to get more and more agitated with me something which made him accusing of being the worst offender on that day, stating to the court that I was the only one doing 92 in a 60 zone.

So as he said that I asked him if he has proof of that and he said yes, he had a list with all fines issued on that particular morning I then demanded to see that, so the bailiff went to get the paper for me and one for the judge.

As I looked through the list I noticed that all offenders on that day totaling 9 before me being done and 4 after me had been booked at the exact speed 92 in a 60 zone

As I saw this I was skeptical then I started to question this highly suspicious fine speeds… At this time the judge stopped me and said that he must have used the same speed recording on the radar gun to all offenders, making this matter highly questionable.

He also recommended that the constable gets more training on how to use the device correctly, and that all other people involved on that day to be notified immediately of this decision.

All fines are to be reimbursed and points awarded back because of this ruling”

Great to see “the little guy” have a win against the corruptive goliath.

New Zealand refunds speed camera tickets issued to trucks after speed readings prove to be bogus (source: Dominion Post – New Zealand)

New Zealand truckBrand new, digital speed cameras in New Zealand falsely accused truck drivers of speeding since January. Police officials announced last week that 133 tickets where refunded after at least ten recipients proved the speed claimed on the ticket had been double their actual speed. Police admitted the inaccuracy to the Dominion Post newspaper and have ceased issuing automated citations to large vehicles.

“It appears initially the cameras were set incorrectly and this has resulted in some incorrect [high] readings,” Inspector Peter McKay told the Dominion Post. “If there appears to be any anomalies, we will not process any infringements. To ensure no one is disadvantaged, no photos of large flat-sided vehicles — typically buses and trucks — are being processed at the moment.”

New Zealand introduced 43 Australian-made mobile camera units in January. The current theory as to why the system is so inaccurate is that the the large, flat sides of the vehicles are producing a doubled reflection back to the radar unit.

“We are talking about introducing a fairly sophisticated piece of equipment… it is reasonable to expect some teething issues.”

This is not the first time that Australian speed cameras have caused bogus readings for large vehicles. In 2005, speed cameras that used pavement sensors, not radar, in New South Wales, Australia falsely accused bus drivers of speeding. ONLY BECAUSE THE BUS DRIVER’ S UNION had the financial resources to conduct extensive scientific tests to prove the buses were incapable of reaching the speeds alleged. This forced the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) to admit reluctantly that the vibrations caused by the large vehicles produced the bogus readings. The RTA issued refunds in March of that year. Bad sensors are even a problem in the US as 589 bogus tickets were canceled in Scottsdale, Arizona after bogus speed readings were uncovered in 2008.

This is the problem people are screaming about….that it is NOT simply a matter of “don’t speed and you won’t get fined”.
It has been shown TIME AND TIME again that speed measurement devices are NOT as accurate as the police and governments claim they are.

INNOCENT DRIVERS ARE BEING FINED!

What makes it even worse, in fact SICKENING, is the extent at which the RTA and other authorities try to cover up these known shortcomings. They know the equipment is unreliable, however the speed camera system makes them far too much money to give up the billion dollar revenue.

The RTA has been referred to as a modern Al Capone!

Between January 1, 2007 and April 15, 2008, New Zealand police issued 536,995 speed camera tickets for a profit of NZ$36 million.

The NMA has long held that drivers will travel at a speed that is reasonable to them regardless of the speed limit. With arbitrarily low speed limits in place across much of the country, it’s no surprise that the majority of drivers choose to travel above the speed limit.

The response of government has always been to hand out speeding tickets with heavy financial penalties to deter this behavior.

However, anecdotal evidence has shown that this has had little effect on driver behavior and has only padded the budgets of local and state government. Now more concrete evidence is available as well.

There was a study done recently that confirms the fact that speeding tickets are an ineffective way to deter speeding. This study was published in the March 2007 issue of Traffic Injury Prevention.

Here’s a quick summary of the study:

Title:
Do Speeding Tickets Reduce the Likelihood of Receiving Subsequent Speeding Tickets?

Authors:
Saranath Lawpoolsri a; Jingyi Li a; Elisa R. Braver ab

Affiliations:
a Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
b National Study Center for Trauma and EMS, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Study Objective:
Speeding tickets are the most commonly used tool to deter speeders, yet little is known about how speeding citations affect individual drivers’ behavior over time.

This study examined the effects of being cited for speeding and types of legal consequences on drivers’ subsequent speeding citations, which are an indicator of speeding behavior.

Conclusion:
Drivers who receive speeding citations are at increased risk of receiving subsequent speeding citations, suggesting that speeding citations have limited effects on deterrence in the context of the current traffic enforcement system.

The full study goes into greater detail, including how different types of penalties can affect results.

If you’re interested, you can read it here.

The effectiveness of new anti-speeding technology to be trialed in New South Wales has been questioned, because drivers will be able to override the system.

Forty of the Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) units will be trialed on Wollongong roads next month and the State Government says that one day it could be a standard feature in all cars.

But New South Wales Roads Minister Michael Daley says motorists will be able to override the system.

“There is a capability for the device to be switched off quickly with the flick of a switch,” Mr Daley said.

The NRMA’s Wendy Machin says that limits the device’s effectiveness.

“The people who want to do the right thing will find it a useful safety feature if it proves effective, but those who are going to speed and break the law are always the difficult ones to deal with,” Ms Machin said.

If the device is successful the Government stands to lose more than $80 million in revenue collected from speeding fines, but Mr Daley says that is not a concern.

“The incidence of speed-related fatalities and injuries costs our community billions of dollars each year. If speeding revenues were to fall dramatically, I’d be the happiest roads minister in Australia,” he said.

The system works by cutting power to the engine if a driver goes over the speed limit and ignores a warning to slow down.

A device fitted to the dashboard picks up information about the speed limit on the road from satellites. A warning goes off if the motorist exceeds the limit. And if the driver continues to ignore the warning, power to the engine is cut.

Dr Soames Jobe is the director of the RTA’s Centre for Road Safety.

“It actually talks to the computer which manages the engine, and it tells that computer to limit the available fuel to the engine so that it will not exceed a certain speed, whatever speed limit you’re in,” Dr Jobe said.

“Typically in the ones I’ve driven, a voice comes on and says ’60 kilometres an hour’ or ’50 kilometres an hour’ or whatever the speed limit is you’re in to remind you that you have exceeded that speed limit.”

The NSW Government first flagged the idea last year and has now put out a tender for the supply of the ISA units.

The Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) has been mapping the speed zones in the Wollongong region and will start trialling 40 devices from next month.

Another 60 cars will be fitted with machines that send out a warning when the speed limit has been breached.

The project will run for up to 18 months to test the reliability of the machines.

Dr Jobe says the trial will measure a number of things like the impact on speeds and vehicle running costs.

“What impact does it have on speeds? What impact does it have on the risk of being caught by speed camera, or the risk of crashing? And what impact does it have, for example, on the cost of running the vehicle?” he said.

“We expect it’s going to be cheaper to run the vehicle if you’re not exceeding the speed limit, accelerating harder in urban traffic in order to get above the speed limit.

“So we expect there’ll be savings for the environment … as well as, most importantly for us, road safety improvements.”