An email I recieved regarding speed cameras, what do you think ?

[dave289]

I recieved this email and thought some may find it interesting, has anyone used their information to their benefit ? and what do you make of the info provided ?

Dear Dave,

We find it incredible that, in this day and age, with all the information out there, some people still honestly believe that speed cameras actually “Save lives”. Now, apart from the obvious fact that a speed camera has never jumped off a pole and resuscitated anyone or physically saved a single life at all, there is actually overwhelming evidence that not only do they not save lives but they actually increase accidents! We encourage anyone who has ever had their life saved by a speed camera to please write to us and let us know.



Now, we have been saying this since we started our website over two and a half years ago but, back then, people didn’t believe us. So, about a year ago, we put up the following webpage - http://www.aussiespeedingfines.com/p...e-Cameras.html - which has evidence from studies done around the world that speed cameras increase accidents. These studies also show that when speed cameras are removed and/or speed limits are raised, there are fewe r accidents.



The following story is from the Courier Mail in Brisbane and relates to a particular camera in London, England and it backs up what we have had on our website perfectly. http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/s...19-954,00.html



Statements like “…. but figures released by police show crashes have risen by a quarter at the site.” and “A Freedom of Information request …. showed casualties have almost doubled since 2001 when the camera was set up.” should be of concern to motorists in every country that still uses speed cameras. The reality is that casualties have almost doubled in the spot that this camera was installed but it remains there because it has raised a million dollars in revenue.



So, why do people still choose to believe that speed cameras are there for anything other than revenue raising? We really don’t know but the following story from the Sunday Times in Perth certainly confirms the fact that people are starting to catch on to the issues we have been raising for a number of years now. http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/stor...7-2761,00.html



It is the following paragraph, from that story, that concerns us the most and is the whole reason that we launched our website in the first place – “There are also worries that innocent motorists could be slapped with fines.” Speed cameras have been proven time and again to be fundamentally flawed and that is why hundreds of thousands of innocent motorists are unjustly and unfairly fined each year and why we are doing everything we can to put a stop to it.



Please keep in mind the next paragraph of that same story – “In Victoria, Tenix Solutions was stripped of a multimillion-government contract in 2007 after a string of bungles. More than 1100 speeding tickets were wrongly issued.” What on earth makes anyone in WA think the same won’t happen there?



The fact is that speed cameras are there for one thing and one thing only – raising revenue. Again, should you have any doubt about this, please see pages 8 - 12 of the following report and see how proud the Redflex Group are for making so much money from innocent motorists - http://www.redflex.com/public_docume...20Briefing.pdf Yes, we know it’s a f ew years old and we know that we have sent it out before but we will continue sending this information out until people finally get the message – speed cameras are solely about raising revenue and have nothing to do with road safety!



Simple 5 year old mathematics will prove this beyond any doubt. Millions of speeding fines are issued each year and, if speed really was the “killer” that the media makes it out to be then the road toll would be in the millions, or at least hundreds of thousands. It’s not, it’s only in the hundreds. And, even in those hundreds of accidents, speed is only a factor in 5% of them! Speeding has next to nothing to do with accidents. Please see the following page for further proof of this - http://www.aussiespeedingfines.com/p...he-Future.html



The majority of accidents are caused by either not driving to the conditions or in-attention. The introduction of speed cameras has seen drivers focusing far more on their speedos than the road and traffic in front of them, thus causing more accidents and this is why these unjust and unlawful revenue raising devices must be removed. Then, motorists can go back to driving sensibly - whether a few k's above or below an arbitrarily set speed limit or not - and take responsibility for their actions rather than having Big Brother breathing down their neck whilst the road toll steadily increases!



So please, pass this e-mail onto everyone you know who drives on our roads. Let’s put an end to this lunacy once and for all and let’s get every unjust and unlawful speed camera removed from service in this country. And, again, should anyone reading this be in any doubt that all speed cameras are, in fact, unjust and unlawful, please read the following response from Dr Brittain that was sent to one of our Members recently:



Dear Mr .....



I refer to your e-mail of 29 July 2009 (below) and I would make the following responses to your questions:



1. The certificates referred to in section 10 of the National Measurement Act 1960 (Cth) are issued by either the NMI’s Chief Metrologist or legal metrology authorities appointed by the Chief Metrologist under the National Measurement Act 1960 (Cth) i.e. certifying and verifying authorities. NATA accreditation does not itself confer the right to issue c ertificates under the National Measurement Act 1960 (Cth).



2. Neither the CSIRO not the RMIT are appointed as a legal metrology authority under the National Measurement Act 1960 (Cth) and I am unaware of their NATA accreditation status.



3. Pattern approvals are granted exclusive by the NMI’s Chief Metrologist.



4. Section 109 of the Constitution refers to inconsistency between State and Commonwealth law and the former cannot grant exempts from the provisions of the National Measurement Act 1960 (Cth).



This e-mail is entirely without prejudice and nothing in it constitutes legal advice express or implied.



Yours sincerely



Richard Brittain



Dr Richard Brittain LLB

Senior Legal and Policy Officer, Legal Metrology Branch

National Measurement Institute

Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research

________________________________________

National Measurement Institute
Bradfield Rd, West Lindfield NSW 2070, Australia
PO Box 264, Lindfield NSW 2070, Australia
Ph: 61-2-8467 3645 Fax: 61-2-8467 3899
Mobile: 0408 617 438
Email: richard.brittain@measurement.gov.au



Now, if you don’t understand the significance of this e-mail and know how to apply the Section 10 argument to any and every speeding fine you receive then you need to go to our Memberships page - http://www.aussiespeedingfines.com/p...mberships.html and grab a copy of our e-book immediately.



Then, once you have become one of the truly educated and informed motorists on the roads, we would urge you to e-mail us and we will send you out some bumper stickers and/or business cards to help spread the word and put an end to the corrupt and unlawful system that is currently being forced upon the motorists of this country.



As always, we thank you all for your on-going support and we again ask that you understand that we now have over 11,000 Members and Subscribers so please be patient with us and we will reply to every e-mail as quickly as we can but it can now take us a few days to get back to everyone.



Thanks again and stay safe out there.







The Team at Aussie Speeding Fines

www.aussiespeedingfines.com