By
MURRAY HUBBARD
19 April 2010
Can you imagine playing a game of football with two sets of rules: one
set for one team and a separate set for another? If you can, and you
drive a car, that precisely the current state of play. Queensland has
just introduced its latest ploy that's claimed to reduce the road toll.
Vehicles in mufti parked on a road near you and fitted with speed
cameras.
If you're in a car that is doing, for instance, 65 km/h in a 60 km zone
you will have your car featured in a Kodak moment and the State
Government will even send you a free copy of the photograph. If,
however, you are filmed by the same camera a few minutes later, doing
the same speed - or a hell of a lot more - and you happen to be riding a
motorcycle, they won't send the photograph to you. Or the associated
fine.
The reason is that motorcycles have no legal requirement for a front
number plate and therefore are unable to be identified. Ah, you say,
what about taking the rear end of the bike where there is a number
plate? Good thought. Unlike a car where the driver cannot simply put his
hand over the number plate, the motor cyclist can - and has done just
that - to prevent identification.
(Note: We are not advocating motor cycles should have front number
plates.)
So motor cyclists, which in Queensland are represented in a highly
disproportionate number of fatal crashes, do not play by the same rules
as motorists. Instead of addressing this anomaly the State Government
introduced the cameras parking in unmarked vehicles parked on the side
of the road to catch the easy targets - mums and dads going about their
daily business and driving slightly over the speed limit.
Are these the real culprits causing the fatal crashes? No, but they are
responsible, experienced drivers, driving to the prevailing conditions.
It can be argued that the new covert cameras may well cause crashes and
indeed cause people to speed on other roads.
There is firstly a danger that if people do spot a police camera car
they hit the brakes to wash off five kilometres an hour to avoid a hefty
fine. We all know what can happen when a car brakes for no apparent
reason. Tail enders. And why did the cars tail end - because the driver
was firstly distracted looking for the tell-tale flash light on the tow
bar of the unmarked police vehicle and braked suddenly when he/she found
one.
Secondly, human nature being what it is, this will entice less
responsible drivers to crash through the sound barrier on roads where
there are no parked cars, lifting the potential for fatal high-speed
crashes.
Victoria has had a similar system in place for some time. Did it stop
the idiot who killed himself and four of his mates in that state a few
months ago? No way. You cannot legislate for stupidity. This latest ploy
smacks of nothing more than revenue raising by a state government so
broke it has to sell off assets to balance the budget.
Australian state governments are reliant - dare we say addicted - to
income from two sources: the hapless, hopeless gamblers addicted to
poker machines, and mum and dad motorists - all soft, easy targets.
Even the Queensland Police Union has labelled the new vehicle-based
cameras as nothing more than revenue raisers. It is a shotgun approach
to road safety which takes away from the real issue: not enough money in
the coffers to provide adequate police numbers for all the issues
(Murray
Hubbard is the editor of mister-cars.com and can be contacted at mhubbard1@optusnet.com.au)
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