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	<title>Speed Cameras &#38; Speeding Fines Blog &#187; Queensland Police to use more covert speed traps</title>
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	<description>Radar detectors, speed cameras and speeding fines</description>
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		<title>Queensland Police to use more covert speed traps</title>
		<link>http://www.delonixradar.com.au/blog/speed-cameras/qld/queensland-police-to-use-more-covert-speed-traps/</link>
		<comments>http://www.delonixradar.com.au/blog/speed-cameras/qld/queensland-police-to-use-more-covert-speed-traps/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:02:01 +0000</pubDate>
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				<category><![CDATA[Queensland]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[<br/>SECRET speed camera vehicles with no warning signs, point-to-point speed cameras, alcohol ignition interlock devices and new speed traps will be part of Queensland&#8217;s biggest road safety blitz next year. Police will use undercover vehicles – in a variety of models, makes, ages and colours, with no advance warning or departure signs at the site [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<br/><p><strong style="display: block;">SECRET speed camera vehicles with no warning signs, point-to-point speed cameras, alcohol ignition interlock devices and new speed traps will be part of Queensland&#8217;s biggest road safety blitz next year.</strong></p>
<p>Police will use undercover vehicles – in a variety of models, makes, ages and colours, with no advance warning or departure signs at the site – in an all-out bid to lower the state&#8217;s shocking road toll, which is likely to reach 340 this year.</p>
<p>Premier Bligh has announced State Government plans to embark on one of the most stringent and co-ordinated road safety campaigns in Queensland&#8217;s history.</p>
<p>&#8220;I would be happy if we didn&#8217;t make a dollar out of this because that would mean that people weren&#8217;t speeding,&#8221; she told reporters today at the opening of a new rail extension at Varsity Lakes on the Gold Coast.</p>
<p>The State Government will reveal details of its new two-year Road Safety Action Plan today, including unprecedented measures aimed at cracking down on speeding and drink driving.</p>
<p>Premier Anna Bligh told <em>The Sunday Mail</em> it was clear the present speed and drink-driving messages were not getting through to some motorists.</p>
<p>She made no apology for resorting to sneaky, covert tactics to nab leadfoot drivers.</p>
<p>&#8220;Despite pleas from police, emergency personnel, road safety experts and even victims&#8217; families, a dangerous minority continue to ignore the road safety basics,&#8221; Ms Bligh said.</p>
<p>&#8220;My message is simple: it&#8217;s got to stop. These measures are about doing what we can to make that happen.&#8221;</p>
<p>Among the tough new measures to be announced today:</p>
<p>• Point-to-point cameras, to catch motorists who slow down before a camera then speed up.</p>
<p>• Red-light cameras which also measure the car&#8217;s speed.</p>
<p>• A third of mobile speed camera vehicles to be unmarked and undercover.</p>
<p>• A system of alcohol ignition interlock devices, which cost between $2000 and $3000, to be rolled out next year.</p>
<p>The Government will finally act on a three-year-old promise to force repeat drink-drivers to fit the alcohol ignition locks to their vehicles.</p>
<p>Offenders will be made to pay for the devices themselves, and the car will not start if the driver has been drinking.</p>
<p>They are used in Victoria, New South Wales, the Northern Territory and South Australia.</p>
<p>&#8220;International research shows that re-offences are reduced by 73 per cent when these alcohol interlockers are used,&#8221; Ms Bligh said. &#8220;The bottom line is that means this scheme will save lives.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Premier said the interlockers will be mandatory for offenders convicted of:</p>
<p>• Driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.15 or more.</p>
<p>• Failing to provide a specimen of breath or blood.</p>
<p>• Committing their second drink-driving offence within five years.</p>
<p>• Operating a vehicle dangerously while under the influence.</p>
<p>About 35 per cent of drink drivers booked in 2008-09 were repeat offenders.</p>
<p>Ms Bligh said point-to-point cameras had never been used in Queensland, but were a success overseas.</p>
<p>Two cameras, 1km or 2km apart, measure a vehicle&#8217;s average speed.</p>
<p>Ms Bligh said all red-light cameras would be replaced by digital cameras that could also read the car&#8217;s speed.</p>
<p>In most red-light offences, motorists have sped up across the intersection, and will now get at least two tickets.</p>
<p>There also will be new sites for red-light cameras.</p>
<p>Industry experts predict the digital cameras will produce an extra $80 million a year in revenue.</p>
<p>All the new measures were approved at the final Cabinet meeting of the year last week – but the cost of the road safety plan has yet to be worked out.</p>
<p>Police Minister Neil Roberts said introducing covert enforcement for speed would be a huge deterrent, as motorists would have no idea where or when they might be caught.</p>
<p>That old wreck parked on the side of the road might well be a mobile speed camera vehicle in 2010-11, he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Cabinet approved a maximum of 30 per cent of mobile speed camera hours be undertaken using covert speed camera vehicles in a variety of models, makes and colours with no advance warning or departure signs at the camera site,&#8221; Mr Roberts said.</p>
<p>&#8220;These reforms will increase the detection of motorists who speed or run red lights by improving the unpredictability and number of hours of enforcement conducted.</p>
<p>&#8220;You will be more likely than ever to get caught if you are speeding.&#8221;</p>
<p>Ms Bligh said she wasn&#8217;t concerned about the tough new measures affecting her already record-low popularity.</p>
<p>&#8220;What I&#8217;m worried about is the people who are dying and being injured on our roads.</p>
<p>Police ran a road toll campaign this year, Below 299 in 2009, but a fatality in north Queensland yesterday raised the number of deaths to 315.</p>
<p>&#8220;People are not only a danger to themselves, they&#8217;re a danger to everybody else.</p>
<p>&#8220;I want my family safe on the roads, and so does every other Queensland family,&#8221; she said.</p>
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