2 November 2010

Police wrap - 2 November 2010

| johnboy
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1. Once again we disappoint:

In one month over 870 people were issued with Traffic Infringement Notices (TIN’s) for speeding. This is a disappointing result as the focus on speeding was clearly stated at the beginning, and during, the month of October. It is clear from this result that the message about road safety is not sinking in with drivers.

As part of a whole of government road safety campaign, ACT Policing issued 877 TIN’s in October. In addition, 121 people received cautions in the same period for speeding offences.

Of these 877 people, 17 were booked for travelling 45km/h or more over the signposted speed limit. Of the 17 offenders, 2 were female and 15 were male. Each of these drivers were issued with a monetary fine of $1,811, and faced the loss of six demerit points on their licence.

The highest speeds recorded were two 17-year-old males travelling at 169km/h in an 80km/h zone along Adelaide Avenue in Deakin. The next two highest speeds recorded were a 26-year-old male travelling at 153km/h in an 80km/h zone on Yarra Glen, Deakin, and a 25-year-old female travelling at 109km/h in a 40km/h work zone on Tuggeranong Parkway at the Glenloch Interchange.

A 19-year-old male who received an infringement for driving 132km/h in an 80km/h zone on the Monaro Highway is also being investigated for 20 speeding offences as captured by the Traffic Camera Office.

ACT Policing will continue to target all traffic offences for the months of November and December with a particular focus on Drink Driving. In the lead up to Christmas and the New Year, ACT Policing will be conducting random and targeted breath testing in all areas of Canberra.

car after chase

2. Page chase ends in Murrumbateman:

ACT Policing officers will attend the Goulburn Magistrates Court tomorrow morning (Wednesday, November 3) to seek the extradition of an 18-year-old man on a series of traffic-related offences.

Police will allege that around 10pm on Sunday evening (October 31), the man had been driving a maroon-coloured Hyundai Sonata sedan on Petterd Street, Page, and failed to stop for random breath testing.

The driver and his companion were pursued through a number of Belconnen suburbs with stop sticks successfully being deployed by police on Southern Cross Drive, Macgregor. Despite a deflated front tyre, the car continued to evade police and headed onto the Barton Highway, driving north towards Murrumbateman.

ACT Policing notified NSW Police of the pursuit as the vehicle crossed the border. The driver eventually stopped the vehicle a few kilometres north of Murrumbateman where he and his passenger were arrested. The driver is currently held in custody in NSW pending his court appearance tomorrow.

Should the extradition order prove successful, the man will be brought to ACT Magistrates Court to face a series of traffic offences including driving in a manner dangerous, failing to obey a police direction, driving an unregistered vehicle, and driving whilst unlicensed.

wheel

[Pictures courtesy of ACT Policing Media]

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bigred said :

OK, a first here. I agree with everything Tooks sermonised at #34.

Scary, ain’t it! 😉

troll-sniffer said :

I think the point is that most Canberra drivers who don’t have a pedantically tipped carrot up their behinds realise that a lot of the time the posted speed limits bear no relationship to actual safety, and act accordingly.

When and if the boffins who are so hung up on the enforcement of speed to the detriment of other more meaningful campaigns and road safety measures, we the drivers will pay them a little more respect.

At the moment a lot of speed limits around town are deserving of nothing but contempt. The most blatant example is the 80km/hr zone on Sutton Road between NSW border and the Queanbeyan turnoff. If ever there was a speed limit to be ignored in perfect safety, that’s it. 70 zone past Brindabella Park to the Fairbairn turnoff. Another joke. 50km/hr all the way up Monaro Cres, one of the widest single lane thoroughfares in the region, another joke. I could go on for hours.

And the authorities wonder why motorists treat speeding fines as a cross between a lottery and extra taxation?

I agree. It’s amazing how many rule oriented goody goody types are naive enough to believe the road toll hysteria bulls**t the gov’t feeds them. These speedtraps are about money.

p1 said :

Me no fry said :

In fact, I wonder what percentage 877 represents of the total number of car journeys undertaken in the ACT during the month of October – very small I’d think.

I’d be interested to know if the speed cameras have some counting ability for vehicles that are not speeding which pass during operation. That is, for each time the camera detects a speeder and takes a photo, how many cars pass at or below the posted limit?

Hmmm, that argument is fatally flawed in the sence that that number is but a snapshot of persons caught by police (not speed camera’s) as we all know police can’t be on every road in the ACT 24/7, so that is not going to be indicative of the real numbers of people speeding is it? Speed camera data would also be useless as people slow for them and then speed up afterwards……

OK, a first here. I agree with everything Tooks sermonised at #34.

“Waah, I’m too much of a spastic to obey speed limits. I’m an extra special awesome driver and I should be allowed to do whatever speed I want.”

You pretty much have to be driving with your head up your arse to be caught for speeding.

Remember, you can do whatever speed you like, but don’t whinge when you get caught. That’s the risk you take. The skills of the average Canberran driver don’t warrant higher speed limits.

p1 – I’d ike to know the answer to that as well. It could be a high as , oh, 0.001% of traffic.

Me no fry said :

In fact, I wonder what percentage 877 represents of the total number of car journeys undertaken in the ACT during the month of October – very small I’d think.

I’d be interested to know if the speed cameras have some counting ability for vehicles that are not speeding which pass during operation. That is, for each time the camera detects a speeder and takes a photo, how many cars pass at or below the posted limit?

UrbanAdventure.org11:33 am 03 Nov 10

I always wonder about people who can’t keep to the speed limit. I’ve noticed lately when I’ve not glanced at the speedo for moment and then glance at it that I’m always at orr just below the speed limit. I mean I don’t even need to glance at the speedo to know I’m doing okay for speed. For all those people that complain it shifts and changes in some areas. I happened to glance at my speedo as I went through a school zone and i was right there on 40. At the end of the scool zone I accelerated then checked my speedo, right on 50. When I hit the 60 zone, I accelerated again, chose a speed, checked and was right on 60.

I guess apart from the speedo there are plenty of visual and audio cues around us that give us a clue to how fast we are going. You don’t have to be checking the speedo every second to know you’re doing 80 in a 40 zone. Similarly if you drive the same route often you know instinctivly where the speed zones change.

Still you will get some drivers out there that are just insane, and who come up with all the excuses.

colourful sydney racing identity11:14 am 03 Nov 10

AngryHenry said :

Just stick to the speed limit. How hard is it?

People always think they’re such great drivers and they always have the same shocked expression when you see them on the side of the road after a bingle.

‘Wha happened???’

As you can see from the above pictures, not even the Stig is exempt.

Pull your heads in…

This. Thank you.

I’m with Captain RAAF. I hate that “the message isn’t sinking in” thing. Give it a rest.

If the police focus on speeding for the month of October netted only 877 people then I’d say the message IS sinking in. And only 17 of them exceeded the limit by over 45 km/h? I’d like to see a further breakdown on those figures – what percentage exceeded the speed limit by less than 10 km/h? The majority, I’d be guessing. In fact, I wonder what percentage 877 represents of the total number of car journeys undertaken in the ACT during the month of October – very small I’d think. It could be, in fact, that the vast majority of Canberra drivers do stick to the speed limit most of the time, despite the anecdotal evidence that might suggest otherwise.

This being RiotAct, populated as we know by people who have an inbuilt GPS that allows them to adhere exactly to any given speed limit (and with the burning desire to ensure that others know how seriously they regard the offense of exceeding the posted speed limit), I need to clarify that I’m not saying the police operation was a waste of time or that some of the people described (169 in an 80 zone, 109 in a 40 zone and so on) aren’t idiots who should have their license to drive taken away.

AngryHenry said :

People always think they’re such great drivers and they always have the same shocked expression when you see them on the side of the road after a bingle.

I think the counter argument isn’t about good or bad drivers, but the intention of speed limits. I’ve had many friends involved in crashes over those vulnerable late teen early twenties years. I can’t think of a single one where the driver was actually exceeding the posted speed limit at the time. On the other hand, all most all of them were situations where the speed they were doing was not suitable for either the conditions, the vehicle or their own skill.

So maybe we could be trying hard to focus driver eduction on picking appropriate speeds for roads (straight and wide vrs narrow and twisty), conditions (dark rainy night vrs bright sunny day) or location (Bunda Street vrs middle of nowhere country road).

It is pretty hard to try and instil in someone that they should be actively assessing the situation and being responsible for deciding on a safe speed, then also making that decision for them and fining them if the two decisions differ, even though the one on the sign ignores weather, time of day, other traffic, quality of the vehicle etc etc. Lowest common variable is a very inefficient way of running the world.

Just stick to the speed limit. How hard is it?

People always think they’re such great drivers and they always have the same shocked expression when you see them on the side of the road after a bingle.

‘Wha happened???’

As you can see from the above pictures, not even the Stig is exempt.

Pull your heads in…

But I was only breaking the law a little bit.

georgesgenitals8:43 am 03 Nov 10

Gerry-Built said :

Jesus. How about that 19YO shit that had 20 camera fines? Not to mention the 132kmh in an 8okmh zone. Book throwin’ time!!!

Skidbladnir said :

ACT Govt pursues speed enforcement under the guise of road safety mostly because it pays well (they even come up with policy development frameworks that reinforce this behaviour).

Yes – speeding morons do help prop up the economy nicely…

And if that’s the goal, great. But I suspect it isn’t…

I wonder how many of those who question posted speed limits here are amoung the 877 in October. Just because a speeding ticket is the biggest thing in the lives of those who receive them, doesn’t mean speeding is the only thing that concerns those who give them.

Hercsie said :

http://www.roadsense.com.au/facts.html

This site reads like the author received a fine, tried to fight it and failed then set up the site to complain about his failure all under the “Roadsense road safety initiative” banner. Seems to me this champions time would be better spent accepting he stuffed up and move on with life.

captainwhorebags7:54 am 03 Nov 10

I’d like to see the use of intelligent road systems – namely variable speed limit zones. There are times when the parkway could support 120km/h and times when you shouldn’t be doing above 80. Likewise the Monaro Highway, parts of Hindmarsh Drive. Make speed limits somewhat flexible, even if the enforcement has to be rigid.

Ahhh, I was wondering what all the sirens were around Macgregor the other night – now it all makes sense!

Just glad it wasn’t another accident at the Southern Cross – Florey Drive intersection…although by the sounds of it, that’s probably more good luck than good management.

Jesus. How about that 19YO shit that had 20 camera fines? Not to mention the 132kmh in an 8okmh zone. Book throwin’ time!!!

Skidbladnir said :

ACT Govt pursues speed enforcement under the guise of road safety mostly because it pays well (they even come up with policy development frameworks that reinforce this behaviour).

Yes – speeding morons do help prop up the economy nicely…

I’m not about to be part of the Mully Memorial Death Squad, but the ACT government is busy denying road safety science in favour of a Speed In Excess of Signposted Limit Is Always To Blame policy.
(The US, German, and EU transport bodies agree that its not a simple function of speed, but a) speed in excess of the rated road speed, b) speed in excess of signposted limit, and also c) an individual car’s magnitude of difference from the average speed of traffic that are determinant risk factors.

ACT Govt pursues speed enforcement under the guise of road safety mostly because it pays well (they even come up with policy development frameworks that reinforce this behaviour).

So the same crowd that calls for the death penalty for all the would-be Mully’s of the world has leapt to attack the government for having and enforcing speed limits.

johnboy said :

That’s a long way to drive on one wheel, even for the stig!

I’d be hoping the car had at least three.

true, without one wheel would work better.

Only the one steering wheel though.

Public whippings for the offenders please.

I’m shocked it took 12 posts to get to The Stig’s involvement

The pix didn’t turn up until a bit later.

Capt RUFF… if you can, stretch that imagination of yours to include ideas such as intent, negligence and recklessness.

The message isn’t broken – the wheels that educate young drivers are. Who do we blame? Obviously nobody here because it seems that speeding to RA contributors is ok. I know – inserts sarcasm – we can blame the school system, parents, society… anybody but the driver.

That’s a long way to drive on one wheel, even for the stig!

I was coming back from Murrumbateman on Sunday night and saw the pursuit. I wondered what the hell was going on. Thanks for solving the mystery.

Captain RAAF4:51 pm 02 Nov 10

DJ said :

None – what’s your point? Innocent lives were placed at risk due to the stupidity of other drivers who were then caught by Police.

quote]

I mowed the front yard last week and ran over some stones. These could easily have struck cars and killed someone as they drove past. Innocent lives were placed at risk!

I await the police to drag me away.

Look, the ‘message’ that the po-po and the gummint keep saying is not sinking in, is a message in itself! Change the message! This one’s broke.

troll-sniffer4:49 pm 02 Nov 10

I think the point is that most Canberra drivers who don’t have a pedantically tipped carrot up their behinds realise that a lot of the time the posted speed limits bear no relationship to actual safety, and act accordingly.

When and if the boffins who are so hung up on the enforcement of speed to the detriment of other more meaningful campaigns and road safety measures, we the drivers will pay them a little more respect.

At the moment a lot of speed limits around town are deserving of nothing but contempt. The most blatant example is the 80km/hr zone on Sutton Road between NSW border and the Queanbeyan turnoff. If ever there was a speed limit to be ignored in perfect safety, that’s it. 70 zone past Brindabella Park to the Fairbairn turnoff. Another joke. 50km/hr all the way up Monaro Cres, one of the widest single lane thoroughfares in the region, another joke. I could go on for hours.

And the authorities wonder why motorists treat speeding fines as a cross between a lottery and extra taxation?

If you threw rocks at 877 cars, i’m sure there would be more than a few fatalities.

And how many of the 860 other TINs were for low level, harmless (yeah flame me!) offences 5-15kms over the limit?

“A 19-year-old male who received an infringement for driving 132km/h in an 80km/h zone on the Monaro Highway is also being investigated for 20 speeding offences as captured by the Traffic Camera Office.”

Car not registered in his name/plates obscured and been speeding past a lot of cameras?

I wonder what they will report if the cops don’t catch anyone speed one month? Obviously not the deaths on the road, since no speeding means there won’t be any of those.

Solidarity said :

And how many of these resulted in fatalities…?

So speeding fines should only be issued in the event of a fatality?

Is it okay if I throw rocks at people, as long as it doesn’t result in a fatality?

Doing 109km in a 40km roadwork zone is a good way to try to orchestrate a fatality.

None – what’s your point? Innocent lives were placed at risk due to the stupidity of other drivers who were then caught by Police.

Do we need to have fatalities to educate and enforce the laws that the rest of the community seems to be able to follow? Is the fine and loss of points not enough? Time for a vote JB?

And how many of these resulted in fatalities…?

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