Speed Camera's

[Hanaldo]

Hey all,

Not sure if this topic has been raised before, searching for 'speed cameras' brings up a lot of threads.

Today when me and my mate were driving out towards El Cabello's resort near Wundowie on the GEH, we came across a pretty serious car crash. Traffic was stopped completely, so i asked a police officer that was directing traffic what had happened. Apparently a flat-tray truck carrying a caravan had been speeding and slammed the brakes on when he saw a speed camera and he fishtailed off the road and into the bush. Those are 100km/h roads out there, and he was speeding so im sure you can imagine the scene. Just to paint a picture though, the truck had gone about 15 metre's off the road and up a 2m high, verticle embankment. The whole cab was completely crushed and the block had been pushed up into the cab. Very serious accident, but i didn't want to ask on the condition of the driver so im not sure.

My point is, do you think speed camera's promote safety or cause accidents? Personally i do not know how much they do to prevent people speeding, as obviously there are still lots of people speeding everywhere. Plus when people drive past a camera, they instantly assume that there won't be any more camera's and it is now safe to speed. And as the accident i mentioned shows, lots of people panic when they see a speed camera and slam on the brakes, sometimes even if they aren't speeding. In a car (or truck) that doesn't have great braking ability, slamming on the brakes is never a good idea.

So do what role do you think speed camera's play in road safety?

[ossie_21]

So do what role do you think speed camera's play in road safety?

Raise money, do very little else.

[Ashy Larry]

Unfortunately I believe that they are mainly a revenue raising device more than a preventative or pro-active approach to Road Safety,

One only has to look at the amount of revenue taken from the cameras that is returned to the Road Safety scheme.....

It is ultimately a coffer filling fall-back that can be disguised as Road Safety.

If we better equip our drivers (Tougher Examinations and Courses) being mandatory like Scandinavian countries,

and filter some money into the roads and the services to maintaining the infastructure I think we would see a marked reduction compared to just relying on Speed Cameras.

Just my 2 Cents.

[08yannch]

speed cameras are good but putting them on a long stretch of road or roads were the speed limit is 2 slow eg alexander dr is purely 4 revenue raising because there will most likely never be a crash there no matter the speed.

but u do get some ppl eg my mum who will slam on the brakes when they see a speed camera even if they were doing the speed limit. i think if they gave u 5km/h leeway ppl would not panic so bad when they see a speed camera

[BASHO]

Hey all,

Not sure if this topic has been raised before, searching for 'speed cameras' brings up a lot of threads.

Today when me and my mate were driving out towards El Cabello's resort near Wundowie on the GEH, we came across a pretty serious car crash. Traffic was stopped completely, so i asked a police officer that was directing traffic what had happened. Apparently a flat-tray truck carrying a caravan had been speeding and slammed the brakes on when he saw a speed camera and he fishtailed off the road and into the bush. Those are 100km/h roads out there, and he was speeding so im sure you can imagine the scene. Just to paint a picture though, the truck had gone about 15 metre's off the road and up a 2m high, verticle embankment. The whole cab was completely crushed and the block had been pushed up into the cab. Very serious accident, but i didn't want to ask on the condition of the driver so im not sure.

My point is, do you think speed camera's promote safety or cause accidents? Personally i do not know how much they do to prevent people speeding, as obviously there are still lots of people speeding everywhere. Plus when people drive past a camera, they instantly assume that there won't be any more camera's and it is now safe to speed. And as the accident i mentioned shows, lots of people panic when they see a speed camera and slam on the brakes, sometimes even if they aren't speeding. In a car (or truck) that doesn't have great braking ability, slamming on the brakes is never a good idea.

So do what role do you think speed camera's play in road safety?

They're essential for the raising of lots of revenue not to be used on road improvements as a recent study in the US found that bad roads are actualy the main cause by far of automobile accidents and we wouldn't want that to change that now would we ?

[dan_the_man]

If it were all about safety then they would have fixed speed camera in a spot nortorious for accidents and speeding.

Before the camera they would have a sign advising people of the camera ahead.

People would see the sign, know they should slow down, then they'd drive carefully past the troublesome area = no accidents.

Same goes for school zone. Put in fixed cameras in every zone with signs before the camera and people will slow down.

Unfortunately this would not be a wise exercise in revenue raising.

[KEN-R34]

I personally have never liked how sneaky WA are with there speed cameras.

How many times have I seen people lock up there brakes on the freeway trying not to get flashed and almost cause a huge pile up. Then you see the sneaky *beep* behind a tree then the sign "Cameras any ware anytime". Cameras are incorrectly set up in WA for the intension not to slow you down or make the road "safer" but to give out as many fines as they can.

In London where I have lived for 20 years they have fixed cameras and they are clearly displayed in yellow every few ks down the freeway.

This takes away the element of surprise on the drivers who wishes to speed. You wouldn't even speed if you knew a camera was coming up anyway so makes it even more effective and brings in the purpose of "safety".

Example: If some idiot is speeding past you on the freeway in the right lane and.... Surprise! A camera pops up then he locks up his brakes trying not to get flashed and he takes you out with him... Who is to blame? I would say both Mr. Speed Camera and of course the idiot speeding. If the tool speeding knew a speed camera was going to pop up he would of slowed down 100% causing less problems for everyone.

[BASHO]

The real anawer to all the speed camera bullshit is radar detectors, it beeps--motorist slows down , right safety result or cop the ticket and don't whinge , right revenue raising result---ah-- but wait , radar detectors--illegal--big fine--not nice.

Face it you're going to get it straight up the ass if you speed no matter how stupid or unposted the speed limit may be.

I've only had one speeding ticket in my life (I'm friken 60 and beyond grumpy) and I've driven at suicidal speeds when I was younger--my one speeding ticket--doing 70 in a 60 zone about 9 months ago in a friken French junk heap Citroen C2.

The reason--well the QLD has found a new way of pinging drivers--- 70 speed limit--- approach roundabout 60 speed limit---exit roandabout 60 speed limit---same road 70 speed limit---frakin nah still 60 , bada boom- pinged by an unmarked 50 mtres down the road.

That and just don't periodicaly post speed limits at the roadside , but change the limit for no apparent reason on the same stretch of road.--nice eh ?

[dan_the_man]

radar detectors are still legal in WA.

[BASHO]

radar detectors are still legal in WA.

Well WTF wouldn't you have one if you live in WA and you've got a happy right foot ?

I've been considering hooking one even though they're illegal as some are being advertised as "undetectable" only a lack of actual proof of this undetectability have stopped me.

[SKYRYAN]

I bought one 2nd hand a while back but it's gone faulty

[dan_the_man]

Well WTF wouldn't you have one if you live in WA and you've got a happy right foot ?

I've been considering hooking one even though they're illegal as some are being advertised as "undetectable" only a lack of actual proof of this undetectability have stopped me.

you're a radar detector.

[08yannch]

off topic but do radar detecters work 4 the new speed cameras there bringing out ??

[BASHO]

off topic but do radar detecters work 4 the new speed cameras there bringing out ??

If agregate speed is what your refering to---nah-- , you'll be pinged a number of times over a set distance and even if you aren't speeding at any particular one but your average speed exceeds the posted limit--you're nicked--.

Edited December 21, 2009 by BASHO