| « Why not? | Greedy camera and Graffiti » |
21 hours.
Last week a speed camera in Cleveland st Moore park was featured in the media.
$7 million in fines from 71,288 drivers in a variable speed school zone.
How may of these speeding fines were for outside school zone time "speeding"?
I emailed the Telegraph
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dear sir,
Tony Morrison of Chifley "In the slow lane" (DT 1st AUG) didn't go to court to contest a speeding fine, because "there's no point as you still loose your points," which is just what the RTA/GOV relies on.
Imagine if all the 71,288 drivers caught in one year by the school zone speed camera in Cleveland street went to court, there would be a backlog for many years.
There is no excuse for speeding in a school zone, but most (as exposed by the NRMA) have instead of flashing lights, inadequate or obscured signage.
How many of the 71,288 speeding infringements at the Cleveland st site were actually in school zone time, or rather were for drivers detected cruising through this area after hours a few kl/mhs over the changed (for that bit of road) speed limit?
Speed camera as a road safety tool have there place but what's really needed on the road to catch the real offenders, are more highway patrol in unmarked cars
Invariably people caught doing ridiculous speeds and other illegal activity behind the wheel, are caught by unmarked police patrols.
Speed cameras are seen by government as handy cash registers on posts, and unlike real police, don't need superannuation, holiday pay, sick pay etc or heaven forbid, demand a fair wage for the difficult job they do.
Regards Hans Stephens
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Headline letter in this morning's paper,
.
For "space" reasons my letter has been edited and it appears that although I say there's no excuse for speeding, I ALSO say take your case to court.
