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‘Something doesn’t add up’: the small Queensland town united in its fight against speed camera fines
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 25 Nov 2023
67 points (100.0% liked)
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Gods that data is appalling. Is it really likely that that rate speeding is really going on? Especially after the first few days once the locals are familiar with the placement of the camera and won't be caught unawares.
The fact that the fines take weeks to show up and you can be driving the same stretch of road that entire time, getting a fine every single day, is appalling. All but one fine per person should be thrown out on that basis alone.
The fact that their Speed Awareness Monitor thinks they were doing the right speed is also particularly bad. It seems likely to be the best evidence that this camera was just miscalbibrated and all its fines should be scrapped. But even if the camera was calibrated correctly and it's the SAM that's wrong, the fact that the SAM told drivers they're going the right speed should be ground enough for aquital, in my opinion. They were given clearance and told they were doing the right thing.
It's like if a Council officer pilut on high vis and started controlling a signalised intersection, instructing drivers to ignore the traffic lights. It doesn't matter that that officer might not have the appropriate training or authorisation to be doing what he was doing. Drivers shouldn't be given a red light fine for going when someone who appeared authoritative said they should go.
Why is she trusting a speed detection sign in the first place, she had a speedometer that has a guaranteed margin of error in all cars older than 2004, and a legal requirement to never show above the actual travel speed. It sounds like a cop out, either the camera was not functioning properly or these people are just country lead foots. Given that I only need to go 15 mins out of the city to see people drive significantly over the limits with regularity. Wouldn't surprise me if half these folks have never even looked down below the dash what with keeping an eye out for pigs and roos.
a guaranteed margin of error in all cars older than 2004
Is there no guarantee from 2005 on? Am I missing a memo here?
I misstyped. It's supposed to be younger not older. Older cars are still required to show the correct speed however in 2004 manufacturers started putting in a 'buffer'.
Cars manufactured before 2004 will generally have a very exact speedo that has the potential to display below the travelling speed under certain circumstances, eg bigger wheels than intented for the vehicle, overinflated tires, etc.
After 2004 manufacturer's started putting in a 'buffer' of anywhere between 4 to 12 km/h due to new regulation preventing the previously mentioned situation.
For example a Taraga people mover can be anywhere from 7 to 12km under the displayed speed, Camry hybrids are almost always about 4km/h slower than their shown speed, Prius are mostly 5km/h slower on the dot.
My 2002 Camry is on the money.
Experience: Few years as a taxi driver.
Very old cars were allowed a margin of error on both directions. Newer cars are allowed zero margin for error on reading low but some margin for reading high (i.e., you are guaranteed to actually be going at the speed recorded or lower—you can never be speeding if your speedo says you're under the limit).
Despite the example you gave - almost none of those fines would have been locals.
It's a major interstate route and people travelling through the town are the ones that get fined - in other parts of the state the speed limit for that road would be far higher (probably 110kph with a bypass for the town) and wouldn't be enforced as heavily either.
I thought about that, but the fact is that the way the article presents it gives us no reason to believe that's the case.
If it were a major interstate route, it would have a name, instead of being called Small Town-Smaller Town Rd (Atherton-Malanda Rd). It also wouldn’t be 250km north of the last major route to the NT (Flinders Hwy) or 20km west of the road to Cairns (Bruce Hwy). Your claim is completely untrue.
It's effectively part of Highway 1 - which goes around the coast through every coastal city on mainland Australia.
It's not officially part of it, but west of Cairns a bridge has been closed to a lot of traffic for three years. Most people don't expect the bridge to be repaired, more likely they'll move the highway... but preliminary investigations have been suppressed (not a good sign) and nearly $10m is being spent just on planning to decide what to do - the results of that planning effort are scheduled to be released by the end of next year - who knows when construction will start. In the mean time, Atherton-Malanda Rd is one of the detour options, depending where you're going along Highway 1.
It's also a major tourist road - about half a million tourists per year drive along it.
You're right, it's not a major highway. But it is and always has been used for heavy freight and more than ever since the bridge is a mess. It was originally built well over a hundred years ago to haul massive old growth rainforest tree trunks to be shipped off to Europe - I'm talking trees where a single log would need an oversize truck to move it by modern standards. These days the road is depended on by local farmers and it's almost a blessing that it's not a federal highway, because being a local road means it's actually considered a priority by the government that maintains it.