38 NSW Speed Cameras to be turned off & dismantled

[Bloodnok]

Otherwise, why would Macquarie Bank be so keen to own them?

Anything you lease to a government body you can make big profits from by inflating prices. Same as banks rushing to own railway rolling stock in Britain - the train operating companies have to rent it, the government is subsidising them to do so, so what you've got essentially is taxpayers money straight into bank coffers. The actual object used (in this case speed cameras, in that case trains) is irrelevant - they are just looking for new ways to take government money.

[Drache Mithal]

cash cow = too many leadfoots. Maybe if people focused more on their speed, the above statement wouldnt mean a thing

i agree there's too many leadfoots out there that more than deserve the fines. I'm more thinking about the people (like myself) who've accidentally done 2-3 kms over the limit to get through a yellow light, because to brake sharply would cause an accident and get pinged breaking the speed limit for their troubles. IMHO the milperra camera (and probably others) should be red light cameras only and there should be more coppers out there in more random locations with speed camera's picking off the leadfoots. Having a big sign up advertising a speed camera will make people slow down in one location, but to get pulled over by a copper and have the sh*t scared out of you by said copper telling you off would make people slow down everywhere. Just my

[vectra.lee]

Some of the cameras in those sites I think are worth getting shut down.
I especially find speed cameras in the middle of motorways really silly.
In any case, 38 less threats on the road is better than nothing.

[Vectracious]

Increased police prescence is the key - it's amazing at how well behaved everyone is when the cop car is in the next lane, then as soon as it turns off - everyones up to their antics again.....

[dglewis80]

Just seen a example of the above.
Was following a cop car and had this dick teen up my arse, he floored it past me and then he jumped on the brakes as soon as he saw the cop car.

[Nurb608]

Just seen a example of the above.
Was following a cop car and had this dick teen up my arse, he floored it past me and then he jumped on the brakes as soon as he saw the cop car.

You sure you want to say that on an open forum?

[Bloodnok]

Increased police prescence is the key - it's amazing at how well behaved everyone is when the cop car is in the next lane, then as soon as it turns off - everyones up to their antics again.....

Yes, but also no.

What would be good is if they actually started ticketing people for such dangerous behaviour as tailgating, weaving from lane to lane, failing to move left after overtaking, overtaking on the wrong side, and dazzling other drivers. All of which are against road rules already, and have fine/points offences for them. And yet are a regular occurrence - I see several instances of these every single trip I take on the motorway here. More police presence enforcing this kind of thing would have a direct impact on the road toll by improving the standard of driving. Unfortunately, all that ever seems to be enforced on the motorway here is speeding checks. (In fact, I have seen plenty of police vehicles travelling in the wrong lane or dazzling other drivers themselves. Hardly setting a good example.)

Hand in hand with this, a further improvement in road safety could be obtained by ensuring overtaking moves are completed in a sensible timeframe. That means allowing a variance in speed between different vehicles flowing down the motorway. Part of the problem is everyone is travelling at too similar a speed, which results in dense little knots of traffic following very closely down the road. If there was more variance in speed, this would happen less - and the road would flow more freely.

As to how to achieve more variance in speed, no idea. Australia has a culture of "sitting on the limit", rather than thinking about what is reasonable and safe for the road and the conditions and driving accordingly. So simply raising the speed limit to mirror other countries would probably not help.

[dutchy]

overtaking on the wrong side

I always thought this was allowed here !!!

[Bloodnok]

I always thought this was allowed here !!!

Not on roads with 90km/h or higher speed limits. Above that, the other person should have pulled to the left when the left lane was free, and you should overtake on the right. With a road speed of 80km/h or below, the other person has no obligation to pull into the left lane (unless there is a sign saying "Keep left unless overtaking"), and then you can overtake on whatever side you like.

Though I still have a special dislike of people who deliberately drive up the left turn lane at a junction and then "suddenly" decide they need to merge back in.

[Vectracious]

What would be good is if they actually started ticketing people for such dangerous behaviour as tailgating, etc

Of course that would be great - but how you'd need the entire force out there driving around giving tickets.