20 August 2007

Speed Cameras on Sydney Motorways M5 & M7 & Central Coast Freeway F3

| Jazz
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I have no idea if there is any truth to the email i received this morning (below) but after our recent discussion on point to point speed camera’s on Canberra roads it worth noting that other states seem to be putting the same kind of speed cameras in too. If its true, a trip to Sydney could mean you lose your licence or cost you a whole heap more than you thought it would if you’re not careful.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
The M5 and the M7 are now equipped with Point to Point speed devices.
Once you enter the M7 for instance, you pass the e-tag and it beeps. At the same time a camera takes a photo of your car and records the exact time.

For those who have exited the M7, they would be aware that upon exit the e-tag system beeps again as you leave. At the same time another camera at that point takes a photo of the car and the time. Then the computer calculates the time it has taken you to travel between the two points and calculates your speed. If you have completed the clocked journey too fast, you are given a speeding ticket.

At the present time the speed limit is 100kph and you have a tolerance of 102kph and no more. One fraction over that speed and you are issued with a fine automatically.

Also remember that school zone camera’s are not speed tolerant. Anything over, even 41kph, is a fine. This means people will be doing 38kph to avoid any differences in their speedo readings

Remember, this is going to be a very costly experience for some drivers. It
is also going to mean vehicles will be travelling at 95kph in order to ensure that no ticket is issued.

What a shock some drivers are going to have when they have used this roadway for a week and get a week’s worth of tickets BOTH WAYS. Of course your license will also be recalled for three months and you know the rest

Take the advice and if you ignore it, remember this email when you pay all those fines. Also, remember that now with the new legislation, fighting a speed camera fines is almost impossible. You must prove the device is faulty and if you are not a technician working on them, you have no chance of beating the fine.

Please also take into regard that the Pacific Highway has a set which are recognisable as the large steel frames over the lanes with a speed camera nearby and located some distance up the road is another large metal frame with a speed camera. These new point to point systems are being put onto any and all expressway or highway where vehicles are not able to exit between those points.

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Felix the Cat9:56 pm 22 Aug 07

Yeh the speed camera thing on the M7 is BS. I have a *friend* that *may* of been travelling along there *allegedly* at 130km/h and never received any fines.

NSW was trailing point to point system on the M4 near the old Wonderland site. I think if you got ‘done’ they were just sending out warning letters. Good point raised as to how you can or cannot prove the acuracy of the things, clearly the law can be changed by the government of the day to make it legal.

The camera’s on the M7 are for tolling ONLY no for speed detection.

Saftey Cam is for heavy vehicles only and the law is such that the owner of the truck (not the driver) gets warned first with the max penalty for repeated offences being cancellation of rego or right to drive in NSW if interstate registered.

Oh with the M7 and personalsied plates I have been in the oposite situation to the guy above. Registered but they registered my plates as being NSW and not ACT, so pass through with ACT plates and wham, they system doesn’t recognise you. According to the guys on the M7 phone line it is common, especially when registering through the net because it is a manual entry into the M7 system from the Internet. ie someone has to type it in and are often too lazy to click the ACT rego box.

Growling Ferret9:15 pm 20 Aug 07

VB

You are talking about the Safe-T-Cams – which are supposedly only recording heavy vehicle movements. However, evidence of a private vehicle travelling up and down the Hume to and from Canberra was used as evidence in a murder trial a couple of years ago…

Vic Bitterman9:05 pm 20 Aug 07

Who are you replying to Thumper?

Cos on the Hume Hwy, the only permanent fixed cameras near Snake Gully (where the dog lives) are the ones for the trucks….

The point to point speed cameras have been working on the Hume Freeway for the best part of a year I think.. I believe they were trialled then disabled to be “improved” before being reintroduced.. fyi they’re located on the new Craigieburn bypass that was opened just as you come into Melbourne.. I think there’s about 4 along that stetch and the ones either side further north of Melbourne are still there. I believe they were looking at putting some on the Western Ring Road too.. which the freeway now eventually turns into if you stay on long enough!

to answer the VYBerlina.. probably the same reason the Give Way or Stop sign now means pull out in front of any vehicle coming and force them to slow to avoid running into them!

VYBerlinaV8 now_with_added grunt5:10 pm 20 Aug 07

Hey, while we’re having a whinge about motoring things, can someone tell me why in Canberra a ‘Give Way’ sign seems to mean ‘turn into the verge and drive along next to the traffic at 20km/h, then swerve into a gap when you run out of space’, instead of ‘wait until you get a gap, then proceed’. I had to get out of the way of 3 such morons on the weekend. And older tradesmen seem to be the prime culprits.

Woody Mann-Caruso4:33 pm 20 Aug 07

“I pushed the pedal down this far!”
“Oh yeah? Well, I pushed the pedal down THIS far!”
“Wow! It’s like you’re a real professional in a real race on a real track with a real sports car, whereas I’m just an impotent loser living out a childish fantasy. I wish I was as good at pushing a pedal as you.”

VYBerlinaV8 now_with_added grunt4:15 pm 20 Aug 07

For major interstate freeways, use cruise control. There are too many places for the cops to sit, and a small increase in speed doesn’t make much difference in overall time anyway. Save the speeding for the backroads…

grr the comments system ate my less than signs on the last line, change the question marks to less than (

Is the tolerance for Speedo accuracy still 10%, offhand?

not quite, speedos are not allowed to read under actual speed, anyways

from
http://rvcs-prodweb.dot.gov.au/files/ADR%201803.pdf

5.3. The speed indicated shall not be less than the true speed of the vehicle. At the test
speeds specified in paragraph 5.2.5. above, there shall be the following relationship
between the speed displayed (V1 ) and the true speed (V2).
0 ? (V1 – V2) ? 0.1 V2 + 4 km/h

Growling Ferret2:14 pm 20 Aug 07

“Ferret – where is the point to point system on the Hume in Victoria?”

In the last twelve months, around 4 points have been set up – each has 4 cameras, 2 on front of vehicle and 2 on back. They go from roughly the Shep Highway entrance right through to the bypass.

See link http://www.justice.vic.gov.au/CA256E5F0003DEF3/page/Speed+Cameras-About+Speed+Cameras-Point-to-point+cameras?OpenDocument&1=10-Speed+Cameras~&2=30-About+Speed+Cameras~&3=35-Point-to-point+cameras~

Even with wanky personalised plates I have registered 3 times for trips on the M7 heading to the North Coast and back, a total of 6 trips along the M7. So far I have only been charged for the registration fee and ONE trip. The rest of the trips haven’t been charged for. They might be getting better, the trip I was charged for was the most recent. Anyway I suspect the ‘trick’ of sitting in the middle of the road and not being charged is just coincidental witrh the normal failure rate of the detection system.

Anyway the $7 odd it costs to travel the road is good value, even when the the $2.20 for the M2 bit is added on. Especially when it only works out at an average of under $2 per trip at the moment!

Ferret – where is the point to point system on the Hume in Victoria?

What’s also funny is following victorian plates north and seeing them put the foot down as soon as they cross the border.

Growling Ferret11:38 am 20 Aug 07

Its rumoured that on the M7, if you drive down the middle of the road when passing through the toll point, you can avoid the tolling machines as the cameras only get each lane and not the white line – I heard this off an uncle who is a professional driver, and he assured me that he can avoid the toll up to 40% of the time. He is also full of shit at times so I have never tried this technique!

Victoria do have point to point systems that have been implemented on the Hume Highway in recent years. Its funny driving along the Hume Highway – the only people who speed in Victoria are rentacars and those with NSW number plates who are inevitably pulled up 20k down the highway….

The NSW RTA’s page on point-to-point / distance-over-time speed cameras is here. It doesn’t mention what the outcome of the trial was, though.

As a seperate issue, the M7 does have multiple tolling points, because the amount you’re charged varies depending on how far you drive on it.

DarkLadyWolfMother11:15 am 20 Aug 07

I actually read that as ‘…idiots who set..’ before my brain realised that the two words weren’t the same length.

I must be getting cynical.

The E-Tag only goes off when you go through the toll. Not on the way on and off the Motorway. Well, at least that is what happened on the weekend just passed and the weekend before. I call bullshit. I am sure it will come eventually but I would say there will be more of a big deal about it.

VYBerlinaV8 now_with_added grunt11:12 am 20 Aug 07

Yes, according to the Australian Design Rules, but no, according to the bureaucrats who set traffic policy.

DarkLadyWolfMother11:03 am 20 Aug 07

Is the tolerance for Speedo accuracy still 10%, offhand?

Rawhide Kid No 210:53 am 20 Aug 07

Somehow I don’t think this would stand up in Court if challenged as to be fined for speeding the equipment would have to record the actual speed you were traveling at at the time recorded. Not the average speed as indicated in the email. The Cameras on the M7 are there to record vehicles that do not have an e-tag. Besides there would have been a massive outcry from the time the M7 was opened as those cameras have been in place since then and I’m sure not every one on the Motorway stick to the posted speed limit. ‘The Defence rests your Honour ‘

The NSW RTA were trialling point to point speed cameras around NSW back in 2004 but haven’t installed any as of yet.

Victoria is a different story altogether.

This is all crap, I have never read more bullhite in my life.
The M7 take your picture on entry and exit a part of the toll system. This allows them to track people without etags and also allows them to check your vehicle description and plates should you ever claim that you are being billed for trips you aren’t making.

The M5 has cameras on the toll booths to identify people who don’t pay.

Point to point system are only allowed for heavy vehicles in NSW and they are used in those circumstances to determine correct break times for drivers.

Fixed speed detection devices in nsw are also required to be signpoted well in advance, this is required by the current legislation.

People who put this stuff out in emails are just morons, and nothing more.

captainwhorebags10:28 am 20 Aug 07

Nope, not true according to the M7 mob.

http://www.westlinkm7.com.au/News-Detail.asp?NewsID=80

VYBerlinaV8 now_with_added grunt10:26 am 20 Aug 07

It’s only a matter of time before this will be commonplace. I, like other enthusiasts, will simply have to find a tricky way of not getting booked. This may actually mean not speeding on some roads, although there are some fairly easy ways to confuse existing speed cameras like we have in Canberra.

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