David Borgia, the NSW Transport Minister, was interviewed on radio this morning, the interview including, among other things, the revenue-raising issue re cameras. He defended the Government line, that they are all about safety, and curtailing speed, adding that speed is a factor in accidents.
A retired NSW Highway Patrol Officer rang in while the Minister was on the line. He revealed the REAL reason that politicians are able to return to the ‘speed was a factor’ mantra.
When accident reports are filled out on the computer system, one of the factors contributing is, naturally, speed. BUT, the reporting officer is NOT ALLOWED to leave that field blank; even if speed is not a factor at all, he or she is required to state that it was.
He went on to say that on THEIR statistics, speed comes in a distant SEVENTH in contributing to accidents; fatigue, drugs (before drinking), inadequate training and several other factors are well ahead of speed.
The unstated implication of this is, of course, that whether or not speed was or is a contributing factor in accidents, politicians will always say it was, and will elevate it to the top of the factor list, even when it ought not to be there, and thereby excuse revenue raising based on speed.
copied from Netrider.
I am making sure that, whenever I refer to these cameras I call them “Revenue Cameras”. I encourage you to do the same.
