5 September 2014

1733 drivers caught speeding during July and August

| Canfan
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ACT Policing caught 1733 drivers speeding throughout July and August as part of its joint campaign with the ACT Justice and Community Safety Directorate asking Canberrans to Stop Pushing the Limits.

Of the 1733 drivers caught speeding over the eight-week period, 1174 were issued with a Traffic Infringement Notice (TIN) and 559 drivers were issued with a formal Caution.

Whilst 756 of those drivers caught speeding were driving at between 15km/h and 30km/h over the speed limit, 38 were detected at more than 45km/h over the speed limit. Of high concern, 341 drivers were caught speeding in a school zone in which a 40km/h speed limit applies.

Sergeant Craig McPherson from Traffic Operations said the results were disappointing.

“Exceeding the speed limit reduces a driver’s ability to control the vehicle and lengthens stopping distances, increasing both the likelihood of crashing and the severity of the crash outcome,” Sergeant McPherson said.

“Road safety is everyone’s responsibility; drivers who speed are gambling with their lives and the lives of others.”

Motorists caught speeding face fines ranging from $203 and one demerit point, to more than $1,811 and six demerit points.

The two-month Stop Pushing the Limits campaign formed part of the ACT’s multi-agency road safety strategy, aiming to encourage attitudinal and behavioural change towards speeding.

(ACT Policing Media Release)

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Our arrogance betrays a small mind. Funnily you have no idea what I may know or who I may know. Beauty of such sites!
On the zero tolerance “shock” campaign, why are the Mexicans trying it?

bigred said :

Tooks said :

bigred said :

Further evidence that life is cheap in old Canberra Town. The fact that 1733 were caught with no noticeable impact on the proliferation of speeding or any other traffic offence suggests that the road safety strategy has failed miserably. Oh, anyone know how the young woman mown down on Friday is going?

What would be your ideal road safety strategy? Serious question.

Great question there. I would start with trying to understand why the motorists of the ACT are pathologically unable to adhere to the very simple set of rules. Secondly, I would seek to understand why the people charged with enforcing the rules seemingly do so on a selective basis.

From there, would have a good hard look at the training people receive and if it is up to scratch. Perhaps a knowledge and test would need to be completed before each renewal.

And, assuming the research supported it I would back up the media releases with a serious no tolerance approach to enforcement – I would want people talking in cafes and offices about how they were sitting on 8 or 9 or 11 points. I would back the enforcement strategy up with targets (call them quotas).

I would also consider expanding the traffic enforcement responsibility, and setting up a TAMS enforcement squad to provide the level of service AFP clearly cannot provide.

You almost got to the end without resorting to a childish dig at police, I was quite impressed. You would have no idea whether police do a good job, an excellent job, or a mediocre job. You wouldn’t know this because you don’t know how many police are on the road, how many TINs they’re giving out, how many summonses and arrests etc etc etc.

I would start with trying to understand why the motorists of the ACT are pathologically unable to adhere to the very simple set of rules.

Easy. They are able to. They choose not to. Poor attitudes aren’t limited to the ACT.

Secondly, I would seek to understand why the people charged with enforcing the rules seemingly do so on a selective basis.

Based on your extensive experience of watching police every second of every day at every location? If police see an offence, they’ll generally do something about it. Unless of course they’re on their way to something more urgent. Again, you have no knowledge of police enforcement. How does it compare to other states etc? Perhaps the ACT is poor in comparison, perhaps not. I don’t know and nor do you.

From there, would have a good hard look at the training people receive and if it is up to scratch. Perhaps a knowledge and test would need to be completed before each renewal.

The training isn’t up to scratch. There needs to be an overhaul of the whole process of obtaining and REtaining a licence.

And, assuming the research supported it I would back up the media releases with a serious no tolerance approach to enforcement – I would want people talking in cafes and offices about how they were sitting on 8 or 9 or 11 points. I would back the enforcement strategy up with targets (call them quotas).

Zero tolerance for traffic offences? Hmmm, maybe for a short period of time for shock value. That could never be sustained.

VYBerlinaV8_is_back9:58 am 08 Sep 14

magiccar9 said :

Leon said :

How many drivers were booked during that period for travelling too close to the vehicle in front (which causes 2 in five road crashes)?

Causes? Or contributes to? I would hardly say that travelling to close to the vehicle in front “causes” the crash, but it would contribute to it. Things like erratic driving (eg, suddenly braking for no reason) and distracted driving are the actual causes of these crashes.

Back to the topic of the article, considering the amount of time and money that has been wasted on this “campaign”, can the ACT Police really say they’re changing out behaviour towards speeding? Considering that the numbers of speeders caught is roughly the same as every other story we read on RA I would assume the answer is no.

Peoples’ attitudes to speeding have changed, but the prevailing culture is not one of obeying the law to the letter. To be fair about it, Australians generally comply much more closely to the law when it comes to speeding than pretty much anywhere else I’ve ever driven overseas (a few places). In the US, for example, the police are much more worried about moving violations (ie stupidity) than whether you’re driving a few kms over the limit, especially on the interstate highways.

Leon said :

How many drivers were booked during that period for travelling too close to the vehicle in front (which causes 2 in five road crashes)?

Causes? Or contributes to? I would hardly say that travelling to close to the vehicle in front “causes” the crash, but it would contribute to it. Things like erratic driving (eg, suddenly braking for no reason) and distracted driving are the actual causes of these crashes.

Back to the topic of the article, considering the amount of time and money that has been wasted on this “campaign”, can the ACT Police really say they’re changing out behaviour towards speeding? Considering that the numbers of speeders caught is roughly the same as every other story we read on RA I would assume the answer is no.

house_husband6:07 am 08 Sep 14

Tooks said :

What would be your ideal road safety strategy? Serious question.

I’d start with:

1. Proper analysis of casualty crashes in the ACT to determine the real primary and secondary causes, not just the random hyperbole we get at the moment.
2. An enforcement and road engineering strategy that proportionally targets those causes and is reviewed for effectiveness at least bi-yearly.
3. A system where people shouldn’t assume they have a right to drive, can get a licence after x number of tries and hold it until old age just by doing an eye test and paying their money every 5 years. There should be the option of a temporary driving ban and compulsory retest/retraining for people who are seen by police to display poor roadcraft that is likely to lead to a collision.
4. A mandatory driving ban for anyone who causes or contributes significantly to a collision. Starting at 1 month for minor incidents and 3-6 months for anything that involves a casualty.

Tooks said :

bigred said :

Further evidence that life is cheap in old Canberra Town. The fact that 1733 were caught with no noticeable impact on the proliferation of speeding or any other traffic offence suggests that the road safety strategy has failed miserably. Oh, anyone know how the young woman mown down on Friday is going?

What would be your ideal road safety strategy? Serious question.

Great question there. I would start with trying to understand why the motorists of the ACT are pathologically unable to adhere to the very simple set of rules. Secondly, I would seek to understand why the people charged with enforcing the rules seemingly do so on a selective basis.

From there, would have a good hard look at the training people receive and if it is up to scratch. Perhaps a knowledge and test would need to be completed before each renewal.

And, assuming the research supported it I would back up the media releases with a serious no tolerance approach to enforcement – I would want people talking in cafes and offices about how they were sitting on 8 or 9 or 11 points. I would back the enforcement strategy up with targets (call them quotas).

I would also consider expanding the traffic enforcement responsibility, and setting up a TAMS enforcement squad to provide the level of service AFP clearly cannot provide.

bigred said :

Further evidence that life is cheap in old Canberra Town. The fact that 1733 were caught with no noticeable impact on the proliferation of speeding or any other traffic offence suggests that the road safety strategy has failed miserably. Oh, anyone know how the young woman mown down on Friday is going?

What would be your ideal road safety strategy? Serious question.

Further evidence that life is cheap in old Canberra Town. The fact that 1733 were caught with no noticeable impact on the proliferation of speeding or any other traffic offence suggests that the road safety strategy has failed miserably. Oh, anyone know how the young woman mown down on Friday is going?

Leon said :

How many drivers were booked during that period for travelling too close to the vehicle in front (which causes 2 in five road crashes)?

Or for using their mobile phone?

How many drivers were booked during that period for travelling too close to the vehicle in front (which causes 2 in five road crashes)?

I applaud all efforts by police to deter speeding however whilst 1733 drivers caught in July and August sounds impressive – by my calculations that works out to only 28 speeders detected every day or just over one per hour. This does not sound like a great deal to me in an area the size of Canberra. It begs the question if on average only one person an hour is getting caught during a ‘campaign’ period – how slim are the odds of getting caught during ‘normal’ policing operations?

shirty_bear said :

1 in 3 issued with a caution? Those safety cameras are getting smarter by the day … I feel safer already.

Dimwits.

Huh? Maybe I’m missing a joke, but this article has absolutely nothing to do with speed/safety cameras whatsoever.

1 in 3 issued with a caution? Those safety cameras are getting smarter by the day … I feel safer already.

Dimwits.

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