Reduce The Amount Of Leeway Given To Speeding Motorists To Raise Taxes

NSW police say the R. T. A. is considering plans to reduce the amount of leeway given to speeding motorists to as low as 4 km/h.

The reduced tolerances are part of a tougher stance on speeding adopted by the NSW government, which includes six mobile speed cameras appearing on Sydney streets from July 19. (I'm surprised it isn't called a war)

Driving fines are expected to rise by $137 million in the next year, partially because of mobile speed cameras, the state budget reported. (Ed note - note this is the main reason for the decreased tolerance, I would say) The cameras, which can fine six drivers every second, will be set up in vans operated by a RTA-contracted company. Signs will inform drivers they have been "checked" after they pass the vans, which also shoot video.

Clearly indicating it is now a budgetary issue rather than a safety issue.

The proposal, which would follow a similar approach by our very own Nana State Victorian government, has been criticised by senior highway patrol officers, who believe the margin for error is too small. One senior policeman said that a 4 km/h tolerance is so small that a new set of tyres or the width of a speedometer needle could land motorists on the wrong side of the law. He said some radars have an error margin of plus or minus 3 km/h, while most police allow a margin of 8 or 9 km/h at 60 km/h.

The RTA is responsible for the limit on fixed cameras, as well as those in the new mobile vans.

It's a sad state of affairs that reduced margins in speeding are about raising money not about saving peoples lives. This is an excellent way for the govt to make a profit on the general public's misery. There's not use having those bigger pesky margins as that only causes the government to lose money.

This is heading down the same path as the idiot Victorian Government, another govt bereft of ideas. Labour so needs to be voted out of state office at the next Victorian State election.

Vote Greens everyone, just to flex our power and show the governments in power that democracy means government by the people.

Vote out governments that have lost touch. The policing of roads should be about the safety of the general public and not about cheap ways to balance the states books.