’Revenue raising’: Police union boss blasts speed cameras, gives SAM a smile

Queensland Police Union boss Ian Leavers has slammed the state government’s controversial rollout of extra unmanned speed cameras across rural and regional parts of the state.

Queensland Police Union boss Ian Leavers has slammed the state government’s controversial rollout of extra unmanned speed cameras across rural and regional parts of the state, saying they are about revenue raising, not safety.

Mr Leavers took to social media to express his distaste for the scheme, which has been highlighted by Katter’s Australian Party MP Shane Knuth after his office in Far North Queensland was swamped with distressed locals who had received multiple fines in the mail.

“The unmanned cameras are about revenue raising and not road safety,” Mr Leavers said.

“In the bush especially, high visibility policing is about road safety.”

Commenting on a post on Mr Knuth’s Facebook page, Mr Leavers said he was recently travelling through Barcaldine in a 60km/h zone and spotted an unmanned camera.

“Pls (sic) don’t tell me 6kph over is about road safety!”

He also said the Slow For SAM (speed awareness monitor) signs used by Brisbane City Council – which give drivers a red “sad” face if they are travelling above the limit – were effective, and modified driving behaviour by education and awareness.

Mr Knuth raised the issue during the last week of Parliament, saying he was not giving up on the issue until Transport Minister Mark Bailey launched an official inquiry.

Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers

An unmanned speed camera on a rural road

The MP was also pushing to changes to the process in which people were fined, saying he wanted Mr Bailey to agree to reform the process, so in future, no Queenslander received multiple fines from the same device, in the mail, up to a month later.

Many of those who had been fined had received multiple infringement notices at once – with six, seven and even eight at a time.

Some locals have even claimed the cameras were faulty, while The Courier-Mail understands others had had their fines refunded without explanation after complaining.

Mr Bailey said Transport and Main Roads operates 10 transportable speed cameras in regional Queensland.

“They were introduced especially for enforcement in regional and rural areas, because statistics and research demonstrate that people in these areas are disproportionately affected by crashes and speed-related fatalities,” he said.

“The previous available methods of speed enforcement primarily relied on uniformed police officers.

“In regional and rural areas these officers have many demands on their time to properly service the community in addition to road safety, so any solution that enables safety to be prioritised and frees up uniformed officers to serve the community is a benefit to everybody.”

A speed awareness monitor (SAM) in Brisbane