School Zone Santa .Com

The RTA has had flashing lights installed at 100 schools, as I drive around I have noticed these expensive light units breaking down and have logged them on the site.

These are of course only the few schools that have flashing lights in my area, what is happening with the others?

Here are pages taken from earlier entries about faulty lights

12/2/07 It's Monday afternoon and the school year is two weeks old.

That means that the fancy solar powered, back to base flashing lights that the RTA has had installed at one hundred schools for $7.2 million have been working for 30 hours.

Guess what, this afternoon outside the Mater Dei primary school at Blakehurst, both the North and South flashers on Princes Highway weren't working.

This is my photo of the non working flashing lights heading South, at the corner of King Georges Rd.

I haven't shown the photo of other non functioning unit because it didn't have the handy clock in the picture.

So much for "State of the art".

I'm sure the $350 Olsen lights at Lurgano and Peakhurst,are blinking away quiet happily, even though there has been a shower of rain.

I rang 2GB and Chris Smith said he would ask the RTA why the lights weren't working.A couple of pages back I discussed the failure of a couple of the new deluxe RTA flashing lights at Blakehurst.
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14/2/07 Well it's happened again.

Yesterday afternoon Peter Olsen was showing someone from the road minister's office around to show him the inapropriate placing of some of the new flashing lights.

When they were at the flashers during the pm. school zone time on Taren Pt Rd near Captain Cook Drive, it so happens that both the North and South lights weren't working.

This the North bound light unit heading towards Capt. Cook bridge.

Oh dear!

You would think that there would have been some very testy phone calls telling the company(s) involved to get them fixed pronto, as soon as Peter had finished showing this chap around.

This is the non working South bound light.

I drove past them this morning and they still weren't going, nor for the afternoon school zone time.

Why weren't they fixed in 24 hours.

Are there others also playing up, and ours are on the "to do list"

Then to add insult to injury the Police set up a radar speed trap down the road from the non working overhead flashing light, for the school zone time this afternoon.

When I talked to one of the drivers pulled over, I was told to desist, and I could be charged with hindering a "Police Operation"

The Police officer told me was doing his job, and a good job they do.

I think this "Police operation" in the interest of good public relations, could have been better carried out at another school without blacked out, new, very expensive state of the art, back to base, flashing warning lights.

Just incidentaly in the time I was there from 3.30 to 4.00pm I did see one adult pedestrian on that side of the road,apart from the police and myself, let alone a vulnerable schoolchild.
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16/2/07 I drove through Blakehurst on my way to do a small job in Narwee this morning and I noticed that the same flashing light outside the Crystal car wash wasn't working again, yet it was 8.35 am on a gazetted school day.

I chatted with a friendly chap there, who also had a camera and we both saw the light come back to life, just before nine am.

Another well dressed man arrived and took a picture of the now flashing light with a camera phone.

I asked him if he too was interested in the lights? (obviously a silly question on my part))

He backed away as if I was covered in anthrax spores, saying that he knew who I was and he didn't want to talk to me.

Around 10.30 am or so I again was passing the same site and there were a bunch of men working on the footings for the other yard arm sort of flashing light unit.

"Can I help you?" I was asked.

I said that this light (pointing to the one above our heads) was off again this morning.

"Yes he said someone has been tripping a switch here, and at a couple of other locations"

" You mean from town" I asked,knowing about the handy back to base feature.

" No from here" he said.

"You mean sabotage? I asked "using a ladder?"

"Yes" he replied

"How does that explain why this light came back on this morning at 8.55 wihout a ladder in sight." I asked

He then went all shy, and didn't contribute anything more.

Is sabotage the excuse that is being used to explain why the lights have failed after only 2-3 weeks?

It would have nothing to do with faulty equipment would it?

I for one don't see the need to climb a ladder to make the lights look bad, as they are doing a pretty good job of that themselves.

Are there other saboteurs interfering with any of the other lights across the state or is it in just this area?

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29/2/07 This morning after doing a small job in Gymea, I had some spare time so I parked the sign at Port Hacking and the Hwy at 8.30am and at 9.15 I headed off to Mortdale

and guess what?

Another one of the new deluxe school zone flashing lights has developed a fault.

Well it lasted 3 weeks that's not bad for $36,000

I see now why the back to base fault reporter is necessary for these systems

This one is at the corner of King Georges Rd and the Princes Highway at Blakehurst heading towards Hurstville outside the big Chinese Resturant.

One of it's flashing lights was frozen in the on position and the other was off.They should be flashing alternatively of course.

This was at 9-20 am when I saw it

I had a look at the Blakehurst lights at 2-20pm this afternoon and the lights mentioned above were still stuck on (and off).

At 2.30 the Crystal car wash set did come on, but the faulty one across the way stayed the same.

What needs to happen is for the RTA to forget about these fancy over engineered units and go for the Olsen style of lights and double up on everything, if reliability is such an issue, and they I imagine would still cost under a thousand, even with four lights per sign.

.................................................................................................................................................. Peter Olsen .Media Release
22 February 2007
More Problems with RTA's School Zone Flashing Lights

Callers to 2GB in Sydney yesterday reported that the RTA's reliable new school zone flashing lights were not working at the following locations:

- BOTONY RD. ROSEBURY

- VICTORIA RD RYDALEMER

- KING GEORGES RD BLAKEHURST

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3/4/07 This morning I drove to Hurstville and as I went through the Princes Highway and King Georges intersection I looked up and couldn't see the overhead flashing light working.
I can't be 100% sure and as it was peakhour, and I didn't turn around to double check.
But this afternoon at 2.50pm at Taren Pt Rd (the South end) the overlane flashing lights weren't working, the flashing lights on the school zone sign alongside were. I did double check.

This is the light unit that was faulty.(the photo was taken when the same unit failed earlier this year)

It really is quite sad to see that this equipment has failed again

and to think that the RTA were against the "Olsen lights" because they could be unrealiable.

How many of the other 100 sites are having problems?

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26/4/07 Modern technology.

Guess what?

This morning at 8.50 this "yard arm" style fancy flashing light unit at Blakehurst wasn't working.
This afternoon at 3.10 pm it still wasn't working when I took this photo.

As you can see the second expensive unit on the sign is working.
Although for the money they cost, these sign mounted lights, don't really stand out.
The lights being solar powered would be limited in power usage I would imagine, so less power = less light.

How's this for an idea.

Hook into the 240 volt power that most schools have, transfom it down to whatever is needed to power lights,.... that can be seen!

No solar panels or batteries needed, and you get visible warning lights.
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In todays Leader was this news snippet.

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26/5/07 Well the overhead flashing light at Blakehurst that failed "last month" has been repaired.
If one light unit out of the one hundred sites fails and it takes about a week to fix, how long will it take to when all schools have them?
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03/05/07
07:12:47 pm, Categories: , 292 words
State of the art
Now I might be a little, how do I say ......."passionate" about school zones but I do not drive around checking on the flashing lights that are in the local area, that are some of the 100 sites installed at the cost of $7.2,million, but as I go to and from places where I work, I do take take care to slow down at school zones and do notice things.

On the way back from Hurstville this afternoon at 3.45pm, on King Georges Rd heading south after Terry St, I looked up and the Yard arm style flashing light was going, but missing part of the display.
I pulled over walked back with my trusty camera and the whole display was off and then came back on ...an intermittent fault, I think that's called.

You can see the unlit patch of display that I first noticed, and the whole display has failed in the top photo.
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There are only a few of these 100 flashing light sites that I see in the South and I have seen and have photos of these failures.

Feb 13
Feb 14... 3 units
Feb 16
Feb 22
Feb 24
April 24
May 3

How many of the other 100 are also failing and what does all this cost?
Not to mention that if these "state of the art" lights aren't working, they aren't warning.
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All that is needed at school zones, are simple BRIGHT flashing lights, on the school zone signs, not fancy over-engineered units made up of many parts which not only make them expensive, but as shown, unreliable.
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UPDATE Fri 5th

The light unit mentioned above appeared to be working as I drove under
it at 9.15 am this morning.
or maybe it was on it was on the working part of an intermittent fault cycle.
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After a bit of shopping I headed home along The Kingsway Miranda, it was afternoon school zone time, and guess what?

The flashing lights on this large sign outside Miranda Fair weren't working.hello

I took the photo, drove about another 100 meters and

this sign also had non functioning flashing lights.

Across the road a bit further along The Kingsway, opposite University st. is this one

which hasn't worked since last Friday.

All these lights are less than 5 months old and as they are solar powered are INDEPENDANT.

Why were some school zone Lights working on Mothers Day and on Anzac Day??

$7.2 million for one hundred sites,

CURRRRCHING!!!!!

How many of the other 100 are also failing and what does all this cost?
Not to mention that if these "state of the art" lights aren't working, they aren't warning.

Peter Olsen told Alan Jones about these three lights not working, and they were all fixed the same day.

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A report on 2GB at around 5pm yesterday 30th May to say the lights on Anzac Pde (presumably Sydney Boys' High at Moore Park) were still flashing.
Maybe pupils were were working back

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Yesterday the flshing lights on the South end of the Taren Point public school's zone were flashing in an odd sequence. A prelude to failure?
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30/12/07 I've just found this on the web
The faulty new flashing lights I've seen and photgraphed are further down the page

In NSW, speed cameras have been shown not to work at, at least 5 locations in NSW. These are namely M5 East Tunnel, Spit Hill, James Ruse Drive, Parramatta, Newcastle Rd, Jesmond and Balgownie Rd Wollongong. The Daily Telegraph 10 August 2005 reported that it has been proven in court of law that the RTA could not even prove that speed camera photos in NSW are not doctored.

The Daily Telegraph 12 August 2005 reported that a speed camera in the M5 tunnel infringed a truck driver for travelling at 93km/h in an 80km/h zone in gridlock traffic in peak hour clearly showing that all the traffic had their brakes on. Apparently, Mr Symons is challenging 15 fines where 15 different trucks were all allegedly travelling at exactly the same speed of 93km/h in the same 80km/h zone.

In the case of Spit Hill it took STA Bus drivers who had received fines for speeding when they were not speeding (and the buses could not have reached the speeds indicated) threatening to strike before the Government decided to investigate and then reversed the infringements for the bus drivers. In The Mosman Daily on 5 May 2005, Mr Kosta stated "They were speeding and that's clearly the issue ... If you weren't speeding you wouldn't have been picked up by the speed cameras". On 10 March 2005 The Mosman Daily reported that the RTA had admitted that the camera was issuing infringements for drivers not speeding. It stated "Tests have shown that the weight of the vehicles, combined with the uphill slope of the road, triggered inaccurate readings..."

Even the manufacturer's manual (DCD Systems Technical Manual for Robot Smartcam June 2001) makes note that it cuts down road noise (10:1 ratio) due to road bending, adjacent lanes and bow waves of approaching vehicles. It does not totally eliminate road noise. Hence, not only can the drivers of large vehicles such as Spit Road buses make enough road noise to be wrongfully issued with infringement notices but other vehicles in close proximity can also receive infringements for speeds at which they were not travelling.

ABC Online reported on 2 October 2004 that 123 fines were refunded at James Ruse Drive because of a faulty speed camera. The article explains that the fault was found in one of the loop detectors. The Daily Telegraph 11 January 2005 reported that a fault had been detected at Carlingford Rd, Epping but the fines had not been reversed.

The Newcastle Herald 30 April 2005 highlighted how a number of people had been given fines for allegedly speeding at speeds 15?20 km/h above the speed that they were actually travelling. The article explained that 4 people had written to the paper in the preceding month, all believing that they have been wrongly booked at 87km/h or 88km/h.

The Sydney Morning Herald on 15 November 2004 described how many motorists had received fines at Balgownie Rd Speed Camera, including a lollipop lady whose car was parked at the time the speed camera went off and how several construction workers had seen the camera flashing when nobody was there.

In terms of safety, the chairman of StaySafe stated: "We rely too much on speed cameras" and "There is no doubt they are a revenue maker?" (reported Hansard 9/11/2004). Furthermore, it was revealed by Paul Gibson (Hansard 16/11/2004) that:

Staysafe ... is concerned about the big revenue-generating cameras. ... At the bottom end of the scale 25 per cent of fixed cameras produce about 12 fines a week, whereas at the top end of the scale fixed cameras produce a large amount of money. The view of my committee is that if the fixed camera at St Patrick's, Kogarah, produces $6.5 million year in and year out something is wrong. Nobody in his or her right mind is fined or loses demerit points on purpose. Commonsense dictates that it is time to have a look at the road environment in that area.

On Today Tonight on 19 April 2004, it was reported that this camera rakes in $127 per minute on school days. It was also revealed that a speed camera at Kogarah fines $25,223 per day, one at Parramatta $13 552 per day, one at Mosman $7 493 per day and one at Edgecliff $7 288. That means that these 4 cameras alone are deeming 100 000 people criminals each year. All these people's money is flowing to the government and the speed cameras do not save lives according to Dr Alan Buckingham.

Dr Alan Buckingham, a senior lecturer at Bath Spa University, explained in Policy Spring 2003, "The whole point of speed cameras was to increase the rate of reduction in the number of serious and fatal accidents, but the data show the reverse. Since 1997 the rate of road deaths has slowed from an annual average of 2.7percent to just 0.7percent." Dr Buckingham said. "Speed was not a major factor in road fatalities" He states "The statistics used by Australian governments which show speeding is involved in 30 percent of road accidents are flawed, for they include factors such as 'fatigue' and 'alcohol' which are not speed related."

According to a media release by the Honourable Don Page MP (5 January 2004), 82 out of 111 cameras reported a fault in a six month period. This means that only 26% of cameras are working correctly in a six month period.

Furthermore, if a recent study by the UK Government Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) Report 595 is anything to go on, speed cameras actually increase the chances of personal injury by 55% in a construction zone and 31% outside of a construction zone. So they are actually making our roads a great deal more dangerous.

The Sydney Morning Herald 22 August 2005 highlighted that the Cross City Tunnel had speed cameras that would be switched on as soon as the tunnel opens. This is extremely bad planning as it effectively deems the tunnel as a blackspot before commencement, which is extremely poor design. Even the RTAs own website at the time stated that sites in urban areas were only selected where the accident rate exceeded 80 accidents (per hundred million vehicle kilometres) and the injury rate exceeded 0.5 injury accidents (per kilometre per year)

d) Police Officers
Police Officers are human. This means that they are fallible. They also have different agendas as has been shown above. Video evidence showed that they do not use their radar in accordance with guidelines on A Current Affair on 18 July 2005.

Furthermore, according to 4 Corners 22 July 2002, NSW Police Commissioner Ryan commented that "the service is driven by fear which causes officers to lie and cheat and perjure themselves rather than admit simple mistakes". It is this fear that is causing them to issue fines once they have pulled over a motorist and not to reverse the fines once issued even when they know or ought to know that they should never have issued them.

There is a growing rift between the police and the community. What is thought of as "old school policing', where the police work with the community and the community works with the police, is no longer in existence. The police are now, rightfully (from the evidence), seen as working only to raise revenue. This is causing many of the better police officers who used to work with the community to leave the force.

On 23 May 2005 "PM' on ABC Radio reported that last year almost 200 officers left the force after being found medically unfit due to a psychological disorder. It is understood from a number of old school ex police officers that a large proportion of these police officers were unhappy with the current revenue focused police force ethos.

4. Other examples of the road being used for revenue over safety
There are a number of other instances that highlight that the NSW Government uses road management policy to generate revenue rather than protect the interests of road users.

In Sydney, speed limit signs are commonly concealed so that motorists travel at speeds exceeding the posted (but hidden) speed limit. If the speed limits were there in the interest of safety, then it would be prudent to have them exhibited openly and not hidden. Examples of this can be found at North Sydney, on the Pacific Highway, and on President Ave at Kogarah, where school zone signs are obscured, hidden and concealed preventing motorists who do not normally travel the routes from seeing them and hence, complying with the law. In the case at Kogarah, the sign is visible for about 15 metres, whereas the RTA site explains that it takes 29 metres to slow from 60km/h (the speed limit prior to the school zone) to 42km/h (the school zone speed limit is 40km/h) (see figure 2). Hence, it is impossible to comply even if the driver managed to see the sign in the split second afforded them. This may explain part of the reason why this speed camera is taking the millions of dollars per year as shown above. If proper signage had been placed there, the revenue raised would be lessened and safety may be improved as drivers become aware of the up-coming school zone with enough notice to modify their speed.

Figure 2hotos from Kogarah show a 60km/h sign (photo on left) and a 40km/h school zone sign hidden (photo on right), only a few hundred metres up the same stretch of road. The speed camera patrolling this section of road draws in $127 per minute during school zones. According to a magistrate at Sutherland court and another at Sydney District court, a motorist should be able to comply with the 40km/h speed limit even though the speed limit sign is hidden behind the tree.

In May/June 2004 Open Road (NRMA's magazine); the NRMA stated that their surveys found that 77% of motorists said that they are unsure of the speed limit on city roads while 60% were unsure of the speed limits on country roads. They also noted that support for 40km/h zones on highways and main roads was low (12% and 29%, 2 surveys).

In the October 2003 edition of Crash Index (AAMI's magazine); AAMI noted that 58% of drivers said that they believe speeding fines are a source of revenue rather than a way to reduce the speed of motorists. Forty-eight percent believed that it is unfair to penalise motorists who drive a few kilometres above the speed limit. Eighty-eight percent of motorists said that they exceed the speed limit at least some of the time and 70% said they do so without realising. If 88% of people are breaking a law, surely there is something wrong with the law itself.

The Mosman Daily on 16 December 2004 showed how even when the schools were closed for students, the very reason for the 40km/h zones, motorists were being forced to pay fines when they were driving past the 40km/h school zones.

A Current Affair reported on 11 May 2004,

"A few years ago, ACA revealed how one speed camera at Sydney's Spit Bridge was the biggest money-maker in Australia. Every day, it was raking in $20,000 worth of fines, filling government coffers with more than $7 million a year. In fact, the speed camera was so effective; authorities installed another one just 300 metres up the hill, fining speeding motorists twice on the same stretch."

Prior to the ACA story, where Barrister Jauncey and Solicitor Rosenove fought the system, the government was taking money twice for the same offence in order to maximise revenue.

A justice system based on error and showing no justice?
The Sydney Morning Herald 23 December 2004 reported that "A roadside drug-testing trial will go ahead in NSW despite problems with the system in Victoria". In Victoria, in the first nine days of testing 283 drivers provided saliva samples and only three indicated a positive result. At least one of these people, John De Jong was innocent and proved this firstly by hiring his own testers and then through the Police testing. De Jong is now suing for defamation (ABC Online 1 June 2005). Surely, any test that provides an error of at least 33% should be scrapped immediately and not considered for implementation by a responsible government, especially when penalties involve loss of livelihood.

The Daily Telegraph 22 April 2005, showed how unfair the system is. It compared two people charged with the same traffic offence. One of the defendants, a truck driver loses his livelihood and has difficulty supporting his family, the other NSW Government Minister Craig Knowles, instead of driving, takes his chauffeur driven car at the expense of the taxpayer. Why does the Minister not also lose his livelihood? Or alternately, is the penalty too harsh for the truck driver?

On A Current Affair on 17 June 2005, Craig Hillyard described how he had had to go to court and win three times before the NSW government ran out of options. In Craig's case, he had proven that he could not have possibly been in the state at the time the alleged offence took place. The fact that he had to take the matter to court in the first place highlights the revenue raising nature of the beast. It should have been cleared up prior to forcing an innocent person to court. Norman Hibble is another example of a person who was not driving at the time the alleged offence took place. He has a stamp in his passport to prove he was out of the country at the time.

In a press release from NSW Treasury on 28 August 2003, it was revealed that the Infringement Processing Bureau was being moved from the Police Ministry department to the Treasury department. This is indicative of a move from policing to revenue collection.

The Herald Sun on 4 August 2005 revealed that it had received a copy of the Victorian Police Manual which showed that the locations of fixed speed cameras are chosen to maximise the number of people who can be caught for speeding. Should not it be to reduce the number of accidents? Are not we being told that the devices are used for safety and are not used for revenue raising?

The Daily Telegraph 12 August 2005 highlighted "a new standard in shameless revenue raising, blocking a crucial free route North" in order to charge an estimated 25000 motorists an extra $1.63 per day to travel less than 1km.

5. What happens when you are not guilty of speeding but it has been alleged that you were speeding?
So far this report has shown that not only is the policy that "speeding kills' flawed but that the devices used to measure speed are faulty and infringing many innocent motorists. We have even shown that police are breaking their own guidelines (and Australian Standards) in order to infringe innocent motorists who should not be receiving infringements.