Eastlink (Melb) Signs, Cameras, etc.

[balthazarr]

:

Apologies in advance for the Melbourne oriented post... there are ~4 million of us

Driving along Eastlink this morning, I noticed Eastlink signs were displaying "Cameras cut crashes; speed cameras on soon" or words to that effect; others show something along the lines of "Most toll points 50 cents or less for a car"...

A few comments:
1. I thought Vic Police announced the cameras were switched on 1/9/08? Have they had problems with them already?

2. Cameras cut crashes? I call BS... A (hidden, mobile) camera will do nothing to slow you down then and there, and all a fixed camera does is make traffic slow (sometimes in an unsafe manner) around the camera. Arguably, they will slow down motorists on average... but statistics show most crashes are not speed related.

3. As an aside... the wording of the "Road Safety Cameras operate in this area" signs irritate me also. They're not 'Road Safety Cameras' they're 'Revenue Raising Cameras'. If it were truly about safety and not revenue, police would not have to meet quotas for issuing fines.

4. Clearly they're not seeing as much traffic as they'd like/hoped on Eastlink. Good. Hopefully it goes bankrupt and the government takes over, removing the tolls. /wishful thinking