I suppose the big question is; If it was really that simple why hasn't it been done?

The Police are made up of all sorts of people, but scattered amongst them are a few very cluey ones. So why haven't they come up the solution? They live, breath, have the responsibility for and also have access to all the facts, figures and research about it. How come it is those with the least experience in the field that are the sole purveyors of common sense and the only ones to have the 'answer'?

Hmmm... just maybe it's not that simple after all.

Sorry if I offend anyone, but I'm merely pointing out the facts from the feces.

I think there is scope for a second kind of enforcement authority made up of people with some training but far lesser powers than the police.

But much more importantly, all of us should be informed of how we can make effective complaints / evidence submissions against infringers. This is surely just facilitating our basic rights.

What is the alternative?

Obviously the thin blue line is far too thin to do the job alone. It needs help. It needs a lot of help. Even if we were to double police numbers, with the same approach to the issue that we have now, it would hardly make a difference!

So let’s make the police blend into the background and make the public capable and enthused about assisting the policing effort.

“ 'a lack of interest...blasé about the road toll' is probably the hardest to get around.”

Indeed it is Quiggley. I agree that it all comes down to this. If the general community was particularly concerned about the issue, then great steps forward could be taken by governments, very quickly.

For as long as apathy reigns supreme, it is indeed a very difficult issue.

But it may only take one enlightened enthusiastic politician to start putting forward the sorts of ideas that I have been expressing ad-nauseum on OLO (http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=2877#77182) to raise concern and support in the general community to the extent that some big steps forward can be made.

So while community apathy is the biggest problem, it CAN be attacked… and beaten into pulp of positive energy!

Frrrrkh!!

Beaten into... A... pulp of positive energy!

And if that was to happen, great things could flow forward very quickly.

Turn Left etc.

OK, I've paid my licence fee, bought my camera and I'm all fired up to do right.
But the pickings aren't so good.
What can I do? Gotta get my investment back at least.

Ah! Ha! Solution: I'll mount my camera in the back of my vehicle and drive along at 90kph and snap the cars etc going in the opposite direction.
Voila! Caught 'em doing well over the limit.

Nice little earner.

This idea is a great example of Police State thinking and would have done credit to the Security Forces of the former USSR.

Is Mise - if you're found violating the terms of your license, it's revoked and you face charges.

The photos taken (in order to get the license plate) would probably also be pretty good clues as to whether the operator was driving on the highway.

Quiggley - by the same logic you just expressed, nobody should suggest any changes, ever because they would already have been suggested.
The status quo can be a powerful force in its own right.
Besides. How popular would a politician be, if they advocated a system that is likely to ratchet up the number of people caught speeding? There's another reason.

Note that this operation hinges on the concept, that speeding is illegal, and if this is the case, the most efficient way to prevent it should be enacted. Arguments contrary to this are a separate issue to the efficiency of this concept - I don't necessarily want to see greater control of speeding, but I believe that if this is the goal, which in theory it is, this would be a more efficient way to go about it.

Aha, the police state argument comes out at last!

This has been a quick retort over the years to my push for a better policing regime (I’ve been in this debate since 1991).

The fact is that under a regime of much improved community input into the regulation of road safety issues, no one is going to get stung unless they break the law (or at least, hardly anyone – no moreso than at present).

Everyone is going to know exactly where they stand with the law and far fewer people are going to infringe it, in fact only a tiny fraction of the current number.

There would also be much more concern about all sorts of laws. So there will be public pressure to modify various laws and dump others entirely.

It will bring the community out of their appalling apathy over this whole issue.

Far from having some sort of police state where the people are suppressed by all-powerful police, we will have a society where the whole community is actively involved in the whole process of road-safety law implementation and regulation.

Surely that can only be a very good thing.