Covert cameras will catch speeders

TOMORROW will mark the beginning of a new era in law enforcement on our roads with covert speed cameras being deployed across the state.

Police will be using unmarked cars to catch speeding motorists over the Easter break. . Picture: Max Fleet

TOMORROW will mark the beginning of a new era in law enforcement on our roads with covert speed cameras being deployed across the state.

The vehicles could be any make or model, enforcing the police “anywhere, anytime” motto with only a handful of people knowing what the vehicles look like.

“It could be the vehicle next to you, behind you or beside you and you will not know,” Bundaberg Police Inspector Kev Guteridge said.

“If you choose to disobey traffic laws, it’s not a matter of if you will get caught, it is a matter of when.”

Three unmarked vehicles, with more to follow, and two unmarked motorbikes with plainclothes riders will be part of the new phase of the war on speed.

“Given the horrendous road toll last year there are other strategies being implemented to reduce this number,” Insp Guteridge said.

“This includes a greater use of unmarked and covert police vehicles.”

The covert operation will be rolled out just in time for the notoriously dangerous Easter period.

Insp Guteridge said he was disappointed the situation had reached the need for unmarked vehicles.

“There is a lot of expectation when people are issued a licence,” he said.

“They should continue to drive the way they did the day they got their licence. It seems that, for a lot of people, their brain goes into neutral when their car goes into gear. It’s disappointing.”

Police Minister Neil Roberts said even he did not know what the new speed cameras looked like.

“With covert speed cameras now on the roads, motorists will need to consider whether a vehicle parked on the side of the road is fitted with a speed camera, or if the motorcycle they are speeding past is a police motorcycle,” he said.

“Up to 30 per cent of mobile speed-camera enforcement will be undertaken covertly using a variety of vehicles, not the usual vans and four-wheel-drive vehicles currently in use, and with no advance warning or departure signs at the camera site.”

Mr Roberts is calling for drivers to be safe on the roads during the Easter holiday period.

“Last year 16 people died on our roads during the two-week Easter period and plenty more received serious injuries in road crashes,” he said.

There have been 13 road fatalities in the North Coast region since the beginning of the year, eight below the count at the same time last year.

Originally published as Covert cameras will catch speeders