It's one of the fastest ways to ruin your day. A flashing light fills the rear view mirror… an icy feeling pierces your chest and that mixture of guilt, frustration and anger curdles as you wonder how much of your hard earned money is being dragged away for something as little as what? A few kilometers over the speed limit? My Name’s Trent Mammarella and I would like to persuade you as to why speed cameras in Australia need to be seriously reviewed.There is quite a significant amount of speculation surrounding speed in Australia. The government will inform you that speed is Australia’s deadliest killer and you are risking life and limb for something as little as what? A few kilometers over the set limit. You’ve most likely heard it all before: the force is out to get you; they need to reach their quotas …show more content…
and keep state accounts running smoothly. Their equipment is failsafe, so you can't fight fines and a clean record will do little for you if the almighty radar says you’ve gone wide of the mark.Quite frankly this is nonsense. Speed cameras do not act as a deterrent and do little in the way of reducing speeding motorists.
They are nothing but revenue raisers.According to the Herald Sun the end of 2014 has brought in a great surprise for Victorian motorists. Statistics released by the newspaper show over 1.1 million speeding infringements were issued in the last year. Eighty percent of all these infringements resulted from motorists doing just less than 10 kilometers over the limit. The fine for motorists exceeding the speed limit by less than 10 kilometers in Victoria is $185. Amongst all the states and territories of Australia, Victoria’s has the highest fine for this speeding bracket, being $100 more expensive than Western Australia. Due to this insignificant extra speed, Victorian state funds were boosted by hundreds of millions of dollars. More than a million vehicles a year or roughly 2739 per day were caught doing less than 10 kilometers over the limit and the subsequent loss of millions of demerit points was incurred. In terms of revenue raising the government has secretly and strategically inserted cameras in locations where they can only be viewed as nothing but revenue
raisers. A prime example of appalling camera placement is on Warrigal Road, located just after Canteberry Road, where at the bottom of one of the steepest hills in suburbia a speed camera is situated. If this is truly not deemed as a revenue raising tactic I am unsure to what is. In another example of controversial speed camera incidents, the newly built South Eastern Freeway in Adelaide has caused enormous waves of anger for its users. As of November 24th last year, the government has generated 5.84 million dollars in speeding fines in just the first 7 months of operation. Though the road has a high traffic flow, the alarming fact is that the South Australian Government estimated they would only make 1.6 million dollars off the freeway in A FULL YEAR! It has only been 7 months and they have generated 5.84 million and at this rate they are estimated to make over 10 million dollars by the end of April 2015. They have blown out their projection by a whopping 625%. The government is blaming the blow-out on the changes of speed limits along the freeway, but if they were ‘so concerned’ with the cause of so many infringements, you would assume they would fix the issue and erect more speed limit signs to inform the confused motorists? No. Of course not. The state reserves are happier than ever. The only thing that has been fixed is their estimations for next year to show how much more money they are ludicrously taking, this truly shows how much care and consideration they hold for the working class people. Speed cameras will never eliminate minor speeding offences. On the contrary, the number of offences detected increases each year. Minor infringements seem an unavoidable consequence for driving a vehicle especially when the limits are changing haphazardly. The largest impact of speed cameras is neither the revenue raised nor the lives saved. It is the licenses lost. The entire purpose of demerit points is to encourage the driver to be more mindful by threatening with imminent license suspension. Victoria racked up the loss of 1.5 million speed camera demerit points in the last year alone, the equivalent of 32,500 years of license loss. However, no law requires the actual driver of a camera offence to incur the loss of demerit points. The system invites citizens to nominate who will lose points and their license. It is little wonder false nominations seem the norm even members of the judiciary have been known to do it. False nominations are a proof of a failed demerit points system.In this alone, the base purpose of the demerit points system becomes redundant for camera offences. What is the benefit or rather the point aside from revenue raising of cracking down on minor speeding infringements if they don't even care who was driving? The big advertisements of ‘It won’t kill you to slow down’ and “Wipe off 5’ really lose their meaning when the loss of demerit points are able to be shared around. In 2010, the NSW Road and traffic authority also known as RTA relaxed demerit point laws so drivers could keep their licenses at 12 demerit points due to now having 13 points. The NSW RTA also reduced demerit points for minor speeding offences from three points to one. The reason for these changes is that by 2009, many thousands of NSW drivers were losing their license. A large number decided to drive illegally just to make ends meet and provide for their families due to this absurd system. What has Australia come to where citizens must break laws to provide for families? Luckily, in this very rare scenario the problem was actually fixed. The Herald Sun have found in a survey that over 70 per cent of Victorian Police believe speed and red light cameras are more about raising revenue than preserving road safety. This is a point motorists have tried so very hard to get across. Out of the 3459 police officers surveyed, only 6 percent, about 207 officers strongly agreed speed cameras really do help save lives. Most intriguing though, the main duty of police officers “to serve and protect” is not shared by 42 per cent of the force, in which they strongly believe making money for the Government is their main role. Nevertheless, Inspector Richard Watkins, of Victoria Police’s major collision investigation unit, claims that traffic police strongly supported speed cameras. He believes that “if the cameras are doing their job, then they spend less time at serious collisions and fatalities, members might want to come and spend a day with the force to see the impact of speed”. The Police Force believes excessive speed is still the most common cause of road accidents. A spokeswoman for the Force noted that there has been a 50 per cent drop in the road toll since the use of cameras in 1989. Unfortunately, neither she nor the Victorian Police Force has considered the enormous advancements in vehicle safety since 1989. The inclusion of airbags in nearly all new cars, electronic stability control, anti –lock brake systems, side airbags, traction control, the list goes on and on, but, ‘according to Victoria Police, the 50% reduction is primarily due to speed cameras…’Now that the police officers agree with the majority of us, can we please move forward from here?
Australian people should be opening arms to the Face of Mercy and to the Refugees that are
This political action memo explains that I want the speed limit lowered in my neighborhood. Then it provides five political actions I can take to get the speed limit lowered on my residential street. First, I will explain why the speed limit should be reduced and how it will benefit my neighborhood's safety concerns. Then I will explain both the positives and negatives of the five political actions I could take: making a phone call to my city council member, completing a Traffic Service Request form, sending an e-mail to my state legislature, attending a city council meeting, or creating a petition. Finally, this political action memo concludes that sending an e-mail to the Transportation
A speeding ticket is an effective form of discipline: paying for a ticket, traffic school, and higher insurance rates. Paying for a speeding ticket is an unpleasant experience. A ticket can be outrageously expensive depending on how fast you speed. Some states charge ten to twenty dollars per mile an hour over the speed limit. The officer assigns you a day to appear in court, if you choose to fight the ticket rather.
Picture a stunning sandy beach, waves lapping on the shoreline and the sun setting on the horizon creating a breathtaking atmosphere. The never-ending golden sand stretching as far as the eye can see. This is Australia.
instituted to protect drivers on the road. With these laws come lawbreakers who put their
As patriotic Australians we pride ourselves to be a nation that accepts and respects the beliefs of all cultures, but on this historical day majority of Australians tend to forget the true meaning behind the celebration. If you ask today’s society, what they did this Australia day mass numbers would respond with “binged on alcohol” and “indulged in a barbecue.” Consequently, this day cannot be called a national celebration when some of our fellow Australians are grieving while others are out celebrating an occasion they know little about. Giving due regard to the indigenous people and their mostly negative perspective on this issue, should be a priority. A new date, not the 26th of January should be established, as rather than unite, it seems
Each year numerous lives are lost due to careless and irrational driving. The disregard for safe driving has been a predicament to Queensland for years. For many years? police have relied heavily on speed cameras, breathe testing and heavy fines as a deterrent against unlawful drivers. Over the years fatality rates have increased, so Queensland Transport has composed a series of safe driving campaigns. On many occasions the transport department informs and advises the public about the importance of responsible driving. They propagate safe driving through the various channels of the media. Their safe driving campaign is now using effective propaganda aimed directly at speeding; drink driving and tired and reckless driving
On top of that there are also some hefty fines that will help a driver learn his or her lesson. The average speeding ticket in the US is 150 dollars, but the faster a person drives the more costly a speeding ticket becomes. Drivers have the choice to fight their citation in court instead of just paying the fine, a lot of speeding drivers often do. If the driver decides to do this, the officer then assigns them a traffic court date. Drivers who take their fine to court normally do so because they disagree with the reason they were pulled over or believe they have a justifiable explanation for speeding. There is not good reason for speeding hence the saying “better late than never”. A driver who goes to court usually ends up paying the fine they received in the first place along with court fees. Not to mention the effects a speeding ticket has on one’s insurance. Just one speeding ticket can skyrocket an average policy holder’s premium as much as 22 percent according to an analysis of over 490,000 policy quotes. There are a lot of things that money could be spent on than a speeding ticket. Most states also employ a points system and when an individual acquires a certain amount of points (ten points in most states) the state will suspend an individual’s license. Now the driver can take a Defensive Driving course to deduct 2 points from their record, this can be done once every 24
Based on the analysis done by James Medison University, As many as 17,000 people could be saved every year by wearing a seatbelt. When we are not wearing a seat belt, it will increase medical costs in the event of an accident.
Adhering to speeds limits can be quite confusing. I myself have been so focused on getting to my destination that I’ve forgotten to pay attention to speed limits that change in different areas. I am for speed limitations for drivers for a myriad of reasons that I will discuss in this essay. Safety is number one and speeding is one of the main causes for accidents on the road each year. It is my belief that there are many causes for accidents such as driving while under the influence, but speeding is something we can all control if we adhere to the speed limits. When you are driving the speed limit in a specific area, it’s safe to assume that is the appropriate velocity for that specific area. For example, it is completely okay to drive sixty-five
PURPOSE: To persuade my audience that we must take action now to control air pollution
Imagine driving on I-75 as cars race by you at a blink of an eye. You are driving 60 miles per hour, the speed limit; they must be doing 100 miles per hour or more. This is not an illusion; this is the reality of driving on a highway. Believe it, it happens everyday. Cars race down the road at uncontrollable speeds that cause tickets, accidents, and sadly death. Speed limits are a must for traffic control, for safety in neighborhoods and for avoidance of collisions.
According to Federal Highway Administration (FHwA) study in which speed limits were varied at 100 locations nationwide resulted "raising posted speed limits by as much as 15mph had little effect on the motorists' speed." The data actually indicates that accident rate reduced at sites where speed limits were raised. Traveling at high speeds saves time and gets you to your destination quicker and the traffic usually travels five to ten miles faster than the posted speed limit.
B. It is these seemingly unaware drivers that infuriate the aggressive driver and trigger the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde transformation.
It is important to follow all traffic laws to keep everyone safe on road. The amount of traffic accidents and losses drops significantly when people are obeying the rules on the road. Sometimes we forget what a big responsibility it is to drive carefully. Traffic laws are designed to protect you and other drivers on the streets. If we don’t follow them we are not only putting ourselves in risk but also other innocent people. By knowing the rules of the road, practicing good driving skills, you help play a vital role in preventing a crash. You will also be making the safety policies more effective. Many components play a major role in road safety including speed limits that are posted and making sure safety equipment is properly installed and used.