Someone else has started a thread complaining specifically about policing. I notice that there seems to be a big negative reaction to law enforcement - particularly traffic law at the moment. I have included 3 examples below. The first is an add for a rally against Victorian speed tolerances. The second is a newspaper giving advice on beating speed cameras. The third is a newspaper article where speed cameras are described as "as socially unacceptable as drinking and driving". Why do you suppose there is such a fuss at the moment?

Example 1

JOIN THE MASS RALLY AGAINST UNFAIR SPEED CAMERA TOLERANCES

October 29th 2006

On Sunday October 29th a mass protest rally will be held in Melbourne city centre to demand at least 10% tolerance, before speeding fines are issued by speed cameras.

11am, CNR SWANSTON & BOURKE ST

Motorists should not be fined for speeds of only 3 km/h over the posted limit – this is impractical, unreasonable and unfairly penalises motorists who are rightly paying more attention to the road than to their speedo. In addition, many vehicles were manufactured to Australian Design Rules only requiring a plus or minus 10% accuracy in their speedos.
Other states have more reasonable tolerances to allow for these factors.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:
1. Attend the protest rally.
2. Tell your friends and co-workers about the rally – the more publicity, the better. Email all your contacts about this protest and ask them to email theirs. Help it to snowball.
3. Involve everyone – this is a fight for fair treatment of all road users, whether they are motoring enthusiasts, commuters, truckies, pensioners or students. Photo-copy and distribute this.
4. Email us at the email address below to inform us that you will attend the protest and to receive further updates.

For more information, contact:
speedcamerajustice@yahoo.com.au

Example 2

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/13/1391.asp

10/16/2006
*UK: Easy Defense to Average Time Speed Cameras*
/A lane change is all it takes to defeat the latest UK speed camera
technology./

continued

SPECS camera UK motorists do not need to fear the latest in speed camera technology as government regulations have created a simple and effective countermeasure. A lane change will prevent the extremely lucrative SPECS cameras from calculating the average speed of a motorist between two or more cameras over the distance of up to 6.2 miles.

SPECS cameras are in use at 27 locations. Officials discourage use of
lane changing to avoid a ticket because it could create an accident.

Source: Drivers can avoid speeding tickets...by changing lanes
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=410\539&in_page_id=1770&ct=5>
(Daily Mail (UK), 10/16/2006)

Example 3

http://www.motoring.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3490536&fSectionId=751&fSetId=381

'Speed cameras as socially acceptable as drinking and driving'
[ See related stories <http://www.motoring.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3490536&fSectionId=751&fSetId=38\
1#related>]

October 18, 2006

London, England – The Association of British Drivers (ABD) has reacted strongly to a newspaper story in which an ex-police officer and former camera partnership manager alleged that speed trap cameras were deliberately positioned to raise as much revenue as possible with no thought to road safety.

Etc.

"Road users have been victimised but road safety is the real victim," he said. "The number of people killed on British roads has been virtually the same since the start of officialdom's obsession with speed.

"This scandalous, red herring, revenue raiser approach must now be
abolished; this country must return to proven road safety principles

*'This is nothing but greedy empire building using greed cameras'*

"Speed enforcement by camera is now as socially acceptable as drink
driving."

What a lot of cry babies !

With the exception of the specific speedo tolerances, and where (of course, the cameras are faulty - and there are many), I think if you get caught speeding - you pay the damn penalty.

I live on the Great Western Highway in NSW, and I'm sick and tired of drivers disregarding the speed limits and threatening lives. If it's not the hoons on a Saturday night with a lethal mixture of hormaones, alcohol and petrol in their bloodstreams; it's the truckdrivers on uppers (who substitute their air-horns for brakes when approaching a red light).

NO - you speed, you pay. And then learn some road rules, some courtesy and share the road with everyone else.

“Why do you suppose there is such a fuss at the moment?”

Is there, any more than usual?

Anyway, I am appalled at this rally. I will send them a message via the email address you provided, notifying them of this forum and this topic. So let’s see if they are willing to justify their terrible stance on this public forum, where anyone and everyone can read their comments.

I have mixed feelings about some of your other examples.

Telling the public how to avoid speed cameras, other than to slow down and stay with in the limit, is scandalous and should be illegal.

But concerns about the policing of speed being primarily revenue-raising operations are real, especially when the rest of the road-safety laws are policed at a much lesser rate, if at all.

Good topic mjpb.

Of Course speed cameras are nothing more than revenue gatherers. Just look at the statistics. Qld road accidents have NOT reduced one iota either and I have a bag full of cases where the other motorist was screwed. In the 60's the roads were crap, the speed limit was open and the cars death traps YET the number of accidents / driver was way lower than today. I have been driving for 40 years and as a young lad I regularly sat on 104MPH in my dads fairlane 500 on the Ballarat freeway and I aint had an accident in those 40 years driving in 3 states with over a million killometers notched up. Explain that one.

Pepper, there are a heap of comments to be made in response to this….

Firstly, where were there open speed limits in the 60s?

Roads back then generally necessitated slower and more careful driving. I get really concerned about hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on massive road improvements in the name of safety, which often only to serve to facilitate speed and aggressive driving and reduce alertness, and not reduce accident rates.... and increase the severity of accidents.

You can hardly say that cars then were more of a death trap than they are today. What’s your rationale for this?

Similarly, you can hardly say that the number of accidents per driver was lower back then. The concept of a lower number of accidents per driver seems to be in direct contradiction with the notion that cars were more of a death trap.

Anyway, all of that is a bit beside the point.

The fact is that speed cameras are an essential tool in law-enforcement and the improvement of road safety. There should be vastly more of them. And they should be cryptic rather than obvious, let along with bloody warning signs.

BUT, this needs to be done in conjunction within an overall road safety policing regime which deals with all the other stuff as well.

THIS I belief is where we fall into problems; with the rather extraordinarily disparate policing of speed and blind-eye attitude of the police to all sorts of other infringements.

For as long as this discrepancy exists, the police and governments will be accused of revenue-raising priorities with their use of speed cameras.

I don’t agree that “speed cameras are nothing more than revenue gatherers.” But I do think that there is a large element of the revenue-raising motive in their use… and that they are often placed where maximum revenue can be generated, rather than where they would have the greatest deterrent effect on speeders.