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23/04/2010
Opinion: MURRAY HUBBARD
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Can you imagine playing a game of
football with two sets of rules: one set for one team and a separate set
for another? If you can, and you drive a car, that precisely the
current state of play. Queensland has just introduced it's latest ploy
to reduce the road toll. Vehicles in mufti parked on a road near you
and fitted with speed cameras.
If you're in a car that is doing, for instance, 65 km/h in a 60 km zone
you will have your car featured in a Kodak moment and the State
Government will even send you a free copy of the photograph. If,
however, you are filmed by the same camera a few minutes later, doing
the same speed – or a hell of a lot more - and you happen to be riding a
motorcycle, unfortunately, they won't send the photograph to you. Or
the associated fine.
The reason for this is that motorcycles have no legal requirement for a
front number plate and therefore are unable to be identified. Ah, you
say, what about taking the rear end of the bike where there is a number
plate? Good thought. Unlike a car where the driver cannot simply put his
hand over the number plate, the motor cyclist can – and has done just
that - to prevent identification.
So motor cyclists, who in Queensland are represented in a highly
disproportionate number of fatal crashes, do not play by the same rules
as motorists. Instead of addressing this anomaly the State Government
introduced the cameras parking in unmarked vehicles parked on the side
of the road to catch the easy targets – mums and dads going about their
daily business and driving slightly over the speed limit.
Are these the real culprits causing the fatal crashes? No, but they are
responsible, experienced drivers, driving to the prevailing conditions.
It can be argued that the new covert cameras may well cause crashes and
indeed cause people to speed on other roads. There is firstly a danger
that if people do id police camera car they hit the brakes to wash off
five kilometres an hour to avoid a hefty fine. We all know what can
happen when a car brakes for no known reason. Tail enders. And why did
the cars tail end – because the driver was firstly distracted looking
for the tell-tale flash light on the tow bar of the unmarked police
vehicle and braked suddenly when he/she found one.
Secondly, human nature being what it is, this will entice less
responsible drivers to crash through the sound barrier on roads where
there are no parked cars, lifting the potential for high speed crashes.
Victoria has had a similar system in place for some time. Did it stop
the idiot who killed himself and four of his mates in that State a few
months ago? No way. You cannot legislate for stupidity. This latest ploy
smacks of nothing more than revenue raising by a State Government so
broke it has to sell off assets to balance the budget.
Australian State Governments are reliant – dare we say addicted - to
income from two sources: the hapless, hopeless gamblers addicted to
poker machines and mum and dad motorists – all soft, easy targets. Even
the Queensland Police Union has labeled the new vehicle-based cameras as
nothing more than revenue raising. It is a shotgun approach to road
safety which takes away from the real issue: not enough money in the
coffers to provide adequate police numbers for all the issues – not just
the road toll – facing Australia today. |
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