Fixed speed and red-light cameras are some of the massive scams in the government's ever-increasing efforts to milk the motoring public. Like police radar traps and unmarked police cars, these cameras are very obviously revenue raisers and do nothing whatsoever to make the roads safer. This is easy to prove by simple logic. Motorists do not get any indication when they are booked by fixed cameras. The infringement notices can take anywhere from three weeks to two months to arrive. Therefore motorists have nothing to indicate that they should modify their driving practices for the often lengthy time between the actual infringement and the arrival of the infringement notices.
It is easy to prove that fixed speed cameras are nothing more than revenue-raisers and do not deter motorists from speeding. For example, a motorist who is booked driving over the limit by a speed camera may continue at that excessive speed, totally oblivious to the fact that he has been booked and may very well kill a number of people in an accident well before that infringement notice arrives to indicate that his behaviour was dangerous. The speed camera has not achieved its stated aim to slow him down, but is just there collecting money in fines.
On the other hand, if that very same speeding motorist had spotted a well-marked police car, he would have instantly slowed down and most probably would not have gone on to cause a fatal accident. The deterrence factor would have the desired effect, however the marked police car would not generate the revenue from fines. Of course the government, relishing the huge amounts raised by speed cameras, will install even more of these insidious devices instead of doing something that will effectively curb the road toll.
Here are the facts. Fatal crashes in NSW halved between 1980 and 1991, which is when speed cameras were introduced. Since then, the decline has faltered with a drop of just 3 percent since 1993, despite the implementation of double demerit points in 1997 and fixed speed cameras in 1999. The double-demerit scheme which operates over Christmas and other holiday periods has been shown to have had no effect on road fatalities. Speed cameras may even cause accidents because journey times are increased, causing drivers to become frustrated. Drivers may divert to less safe routes to avoid cameras and cameras can distract driver attention, and cause sudden braking.
According to a Daily Telegraph report in October 2007, the NSW government is grabbing $10 million from speed cameras just on private tollways. The NRMA expressed concern, while Opposition roads spokesman Duncan Gay condemned the system as "blatant revenue raising". "These are dramatically the best roads in the state and the least needing of speed cameras that are deliberately put there for revenue raising," he said. It will be interesting to see if the Opposition will remove fixed speed cameras if they are elected into government.
Governments in every Australian state have installed red-light cameras at many intersections, claiming that these devices increase safety and prevent accidents and thus reduce the road toll. Whenever politicians are questioned on them, they insist that these gadgets are not there to raise revenue, but to increase safety. Of course this is the greatest pile of utter garbage and provably so.
After many red-light cameras were installed in Victoria, David Andreassen of Monash University did a 10 year comprehensive study of the effect of these cameras, gathering accident statistics at intersections for 5 years before red-light cameras were installed, compared with accident statistics for 5 years after red-light cameras were installed at the same intersections. Predictably, this study, the most comprehensive look at red-light cameras in the world, found that these devices not only did not reduce accidents, but increased them dramatically, totally debunking the claims of politicians who had approved their installation.
Not only that, studies in the USA, UK and Europe came to the same conclusions, that red-light cameras increase accidents at intersections. Why are red-light cameras being installed at more intersections, when politicians know that they cause more accidents? Very simply, they are a fantastic cash cow for state governments, nothing more than permanent revenue raisers, placed there at the expense of driver safety.
Like speed cameras, red-light cameras are an abomination that need to be eradicated for the safety of all motorists. Voters should thrust these studies at their parliamentary representatives and demand that they act to have speed and red-light cameras removed at once, as it is quite obvious from all information about them that they cause more accidents and do not reduce the road toll at all.
A survey by the Herald Sun in 2008 found that more than 70 percent of Victorian police believe speed and red-light cameras are more about revenue-raising than preserving road safety. Out of the 3459 police officers questioned, only 6 percent (207) strongly agreed speed cameras really do help save lives. Most interestingly though, the main duty of police officers - to serve and protect - is not shared by 42 per cent of the force, who strongly believe that making money for the Government is their main role.
British sociologist and university lecturer Alan Buckingham has produced a very informative study called Speed Traps: Saving Lives Or Raising Revenue? that reveals that traffic cameras and police radar traps do not reduce the incidence of road accidents and fatalities. It is a shocking indictment on our government that ignores all the facts in its relentless pursuit to rip money from motorists in every conceivable way.
There is absolutely no doubt that speed and red-light cameras are just another way that the government can wring even more money out of the hapless motorist without justification and it is time that motorists hit back. There is one really good and perfectly legal way to do this and that is, every motorist should use a GPS receiver with a current speed and red-light camera database. GPS receivers are getting cheaper every day, with some costing less than a speeding fine.
Many GPS receivers have data logging facilities that record a car's position, date and time, speed and a number of other parameters. Motorists should purchase such GPS units in preference to those that do not offer this feature. The data logger can be used to prove to a court that at the time of being booked for speeding, the motorist was actually not doing so. There have been a number of precedents set in court by motorists who produced printouts from their GPS data loggers to beat unjust and inaccurate speeding tickets.
It is very easy for a motorist to disregard speed and red-light camera signs because of distractions or concentrating on driving and other matters, but when his GPS receiver issues loud warnings well before he reaches those cameras, then he will be alerted to slow down in plenty of time. The motorist can thus avoid expensive fines and at the same time, deny the rapacious government this iniquitous method of extortion. The motorist with a GPS receiver also has the benefit of being able to unerringly navigate to any place in Australia for a few hundred dollars outlay. There is probably no better accessory for a motorist to own than a GPS receiver.
For owners of TomTom GPS receivers, there is a really good website at www.ozpoi.com that offers free frequently updated speed and red-light camera databases, as well as many other useful point-of-interest databases. It is most advisable for TomTom GPS owners to go to this website often to download and install the latest speed camera databases, so as to protect themselves against being robbed by these cameras. If every motorist did this, the cameras would become totally useless.
If you have problems obtaining a current traffic camera database that you can install on your TomTom GPS receiver, please contact CARR and if it is available, it will be emailed it to you.
GPS receivers are already fairly inexpensive and getting cheaper by the day, although the best ones still cost over $500. Nevertheless, for reasons of convenience, safety and saving money by avoiding being booked by speed cameras, using a good GPS receiver while driving will prove most valuable.