Speed Cameras & Speeding Fines Blog

One of the state’s most senior traffic policemen has denied highway patrol officers were developing a culture of concealment to trap speeding motorists on the F3 Freeway in 2006 that went against standing orders and put police at risk, an inquest has heard.  Not so, according to local motorists.

The denial came yesterday on the second day of an inquest on the death of Senior Constable Peter “Gordy” Wilson while doing radar checks on the F3 in November 2006.

It came after evidence from motorists that the policeman appeared to jump out at them, because no police car was visible and he appeared from the right, or fast lane side of the road.

Public feed back on this:

“This has been going on for years.There are several spots on the F3 where you can almost count on a police car being concealed behind trees,culverts etc.I used to travel the F3 regularly and hiding behind the bushes in the middle was a common happening-also under bridges well back in the shade.You do not expect the police to come out of the right hand lane which is obviously a dangerous practice,so for the AC to make his comments shows that he does not really has a grasp on things.”

Assistant Commissioner John Hartley, of the traffic services branch, said he did not agree that police statements from that time showed there was an “attraction to the element of concealment”.

But a standard operation procedure manual issued four months after Constable Wilson’s death prohibited stationary hand-held radar checks from central median strips and repeated the requirement for cars with lights flashing to be visible, Mr Hartley said. (You could probably count on one hand ho many times this actually happens.

The manual still allowed police to walk onto the roadway for radar checks in some circumstances, despite a NSW Industrial Relations Commission judgement in 2004 that criticised the risks posed to police.

Using a speed camera on the notorious high-speed stretch of the F3 at Somersby known as the “flight deck” did not slow motorists down or provide a speed deterrent on the day, Mr Hartley said.

State Deputy Coroner Hugh Dillon questioned whether a highway patrol officer’s description of the highway patrol “catching and killing their own” (catching and fining people) suggested a “keenness” to stop people that could be a problem.

The inquest continues…