Police call for hidden speed cameras to be removed
QUEENSLAND’S frontline police have called for an end to “sneaky” hidden speed cameras they say the public see as simply cash cows for the State Government.
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QUEENSLAND’S frontline cops have called for an end to “sneaky” covert speed cameras they say the public see as simply cash cows for the State Government.
Police union boss Ian Leavers said his officers were tired of suffering abuse as “revenue raisers” and has called on the State Government to ditch the unmarked or unmanned camera trucks, vans and trailers and put more police on the roads.
The police appeal has been backed by the state’s peak motoring body, the RACQ, which said its members hate the hidden cameras which drivers believe just put cash in government coffers.
The state’s fleet of 18 covert cameras snapped 106,000 unhappy drivers last financial year, compared to 163,000 from marked cameras, contributing $132 millions in traffic camera fines to government coffers.
With the state’s cameras at their worst picking up a fine as often as every 39 cars passing them, there’s little escape for Queensland motorists.
Mr Leavers wrote to both sides of politics during the election campaign asking for a commitment for no more unmarked or unmanned speed camera vehicles or trailers.
“Police receive significant criticism from the public and are accused of being ‘revenue raisers’ when unmarked speed camera vans and unstaffed speed camera trailers are deployed,” Mr Leavers wrote to both Labor and LNP during the election campaign.
“We ask for a commitment to the end of using these ‘sneaky’ devices so that we can regain public confidence.”
Mr Leavers said police wanted a commitment “not to introduce any more unstaffed speed cameras, nor to introduce any more covert unmarked speed camera cars, trucks and vans.
“Essentially we are asking for all mobile speed cameras, vans, trailers, cars and trucks to be staffed by police at all times and to be clearly marked with police decals,” Mr Leavers said.
Police Minister Mark Ryan this week pushed the question of ending the cameras to QPS but said there were no plans to take them off the road.
“The deployment of speed cameras is strictly an operational matter for police and the QPS has indicated there is no plan to phase out the use of unmarked mobile speed cameras,” a spokeswoman said.
“The Palaszczuk Government supports the hard work our police do every day on our streets to enforce the speed limits and other road rules that demonstrably save lives.
“There have been too many fatal crashes caused by speed and we are committed to providing police with the resources they need to prevent these tragic accidents.
“The Palaszczuk Government has committed to not civilianising or outsourcing policing duties.”
The QPS said it “has no plan to phase out the use of unmarked mobile speed cameras.”
“The use of unmarked mobile speed cameras is just one of a suite of measures employed by the Queensland Police Service (QPS) aimed at reducing the state’s road toll,” it said in a statement to The Sunday Mail.
dding to driver frustration, of the almost 500,000 fines collected in the 2016 calendar year, more than three-quarters, 373,000, were ‘mum and dad’ speeders in the lowest speeding bracket, doing 13kmh or less over the limit.
Point to point speed cameras, which the RACQ supports, picked up a far higher percentage of higher speeders, collecting 45 per cent of their fines for drivers doing 13kmh-20kmh over the limit.
The RACQ’s Steve Spalding said covert cameras derailed any road safety discussion because motorists believed they were simply revenue raisers.
He said the peak motoring body wanted more police on the roads because they didn’t just monitor speed but general driver behaviour.
Just the presence of a marked police car on the road slowed drivers down, he said.
MILLIONAIRE BIKER FIGHTS FINE
RUSSIAN-born property developer and multi-millionaire businessman Lev Mizikovsky says speeding fines are doing Queensland police no favours.
The founder of Tamawood Homes and keen motorbike rider Mr Mizikovsky said police were relying on outdated technology to detect speeders.
Just this week, Mr Mizikovsky was given a speeding fine while riding his motorcycle along Ipswich Rd at Annerley. He said there was no way he was doing 75km/h in the 60km/h zone and is going to challenge it.
He said the speed-detection devices only told police officers a vehicle was over the limit, not which one.
If there was a motorbike rider like him among the traffic, they got the fine.
“When you are on a motorbike you automatically get the ticket,” Mr Mizikovsky said. “They have to judge who is getting the ticket and they judge it is the motorbike.”
Mr Mizikovsky said while his fine was not from a camera, he did not doubt they suffered from the same problems.
He echoed calls for the covert cameras to be dropped, saying it would help end criticism of police.
Originally published as Police call for hidden speed cameras to be removed
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