Australia’s road toll isn’t coming down even as speed and mobile detection cameras generate increasing amounts of revenue. What should be obvious to politicians and police around Australia is that cameras are NOT a replacement for “patrol cars on the road”.
If you want a visceral reminder of how stupid people can be on Australian roads I would invite you to watch any episode of Dashcam Australia on Youtube. Apart from not being surprised at how many incidents involve “white commercial utility vehicles” the other learning point is how enthusiastically Australians react to idiots actually being pulled over by police cars – which is probably a reflection of how relatively rarely this occurs.
One of the problems is that the environment simply adjusts to cameras, and a lot of the aberrant behaviour occurs elsewhere – just stand at a busy set of traffic lights without cameras and observe just how many people now go through on the red. The lack of any regular presence to enforce compliance means that turning lights now seem to be regarded as optional by some individuals and speeding on inner urban roads the norm. This lack of compliance, more a risk to pedestrians in the city than drivers, then bleeds through to higher risk behaviour on country roads.
It’s important that we actually see police on a regular basis, not just at the local coffee shop.
Side Note – the graphic in no way suggests that we ought to be using BMW as patrol cars. Japanese and Korean cars are both cheaper to buy and maintain and more reliable; using BMW’s is just an absurdity.
