Our speed limits? Good or bad?

[Falc'man]

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...25799B0082ADAC

Australian police express interest in next-generation UK speed cameras

6 February 2012

By MARTON PETTENDY

AT least one Australian police force is considering the introduction of next-generation speed cameras that were revealed in the UK last week and can detect drivers speeding, talking on mobile phones or not wearing seatbelts from up to half a kilometre away.

The high-tech laser speed cameras, named Concept II and priced at almost $20,000 each, are mounted on a roadside tripod and can record video evidence of up to 4000 offences to DVD.

NSW police confirmed to The Daily Telegraph it was considering the purchase of a number of cameras, which employ advanced laser technology to record high-resolution images from further away than ever.

According to UK-based designer and manufacturer Tele-Traffic UK, the “customer-configured speed detection and enforcement system” will change the traffic enforcement landscape forever.

“It allows the operator to set a threshold speed limit, below which speed enforcement is not required,” says the Concept II manual.

“Having captured the data, it will mark the DVD recorded images both visibly and invisibly in a recoverable format.

“Once mastered, it will provide pictorial evidence of speeding between 20m and 500m – dependent upon the lens configuration.”

UK police in Dorset last week began using two of the cameras from speed camera vans at ranges of about 400 metres.

A little too pedantic, because they can be.

[TS50]

Big brother is alive and well
They plan to use it catch people without seatbelts on, using mobile phones, etc etc
Mind you the mindless morons that drive without seatbelts and talking or texting on their mobiles deserve it
But FFS,, how much more money do they want to raise form speed cameras

The camera would raise enough revenue to pay for itself the first afternoon it was used

[prydey]

this is heading off at a bit of a tangent, but still to do with speed limits so i'll put it in here. it regards reduced speed limits for roadworks, and more specifically, outside the hours that any work is taking place. firstly let me say, i totally understand if the conditions have changed where the actual road has changed, whether it be the shoulder closed, or rough surface etc. in these instances there is a fair argument for leaving the signage out.
in adelaide, we have whats called the 'southern expressway'. its our well thought out 'one way' road, which heads in to town in the morning and then changes direction and heads out of town in the afternoon. now at the moment they are working on duplicating it so that it goes both ways at all times. something that should have been done in the first place but anyway.

anyway, driving to work at 5am, i notice a fair chunk of it is signposted at 80 (normally 100). the only changes to the road are concrete barriers down each side on the outside of each emergency lane. so there is still a full 3 lanes of traffic with full emergency lanes both sides. no restrictions. obviously during the day there is people around which is fair enough, but surely they should be forced to black the signs out when they go home!!

i'm sure everyone comes across these sorts of scenarios in their travels. i know its no big deal, but i think people would have much more respect for the govt if these sort of things were improved. many times driving interstate i have come across road work areas where the signs have all been covered up after hours. its not that hard and obviously some crews do it. obviously some are under instruction to leave the signs out, but if the road isn't changed in any way shape or form, why leave the signs open??

on the topic of roadworks, is south australia the only state left that still uses 25kph signs? when in brisbane, the lowest i see is 40. they also seem to close off smaller areas.

thats my rant for today. one of the reasons people speed is frustration. surely the govt can look into ways of reducing unnecessary frustrations!

having said all that, i'm not a speeder. i did my time as a young un, and now use cruise everywhere. i still get annoyed like everyone else though.

[TS50]

The other part I hate about the "Roadwork Speed Limits" is that they (well at least here in Tasmania) drop you from 110km/h to 80 km/h about 1 km from the start. Then 500m away drop you to 60 km/h, then 100m from the start down to 40 km/h. Then after the roadworks you tend to be at 60 km/h for almost a km the other way. I am sorry, but that is just frustrating, and does tend to make people disrespect the roadwork speed limit signs