West Gate Bridge speed cameras turned off.

[dom_105]

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...82-661,00.html

Malfunctioning West Gate Bridge speed cameras turned off
Matthew Schulz
May 22, 2008 09:19am

SPEED cameras on the West Gate Bridge have been secretly switched off for two years because they are unreliable.

Police have this morning confirmed that two banks of speed cameras launched in 2005 at one of Melbourne’s worst traffic blackspots were turned off just over 12 months later.

Assistant Commissioner Key Lay confirmed the secret move, telling 3AW Radio police were forced to act because the cameras were inaccurate.

He said the cameras were turned off permanently in September 2006.

“We were seeing a lack of clarity and at times we weren’t able to identify the offending drivers,” Assistant Commissioner Lay said.

He confirmed there were “quite a number” of motorists booked for speeding, but police also rejected “many, many more”.

“Because of the number of rejections ... we simply turned it off,” he said.

But he said police and the State Government had kept the malfunction secret because authorities believed they worked as an effective deterrent.

“The thing with speed cameras is that we know that they slow people down and we know if people think they’re there they will slow down.

“The decision was made to keep people alive.

“If people think the cameras are there they will generally obey the speed limit and avoid collisions.”

The West Gate Bridge cameras were the only ones in the state that were permanently off, he said.

A redevelopment of the West Gate bridge could allow working speed cameras to be installed about 12 months from now, he said.

Leading Australian QC David Galbally told 3AW Radio that if there was any doubt about the accuracy of the cameras anyone fined in 2005-2006 should have their fines refunded.

“If there was some doubt they ought to have those (demerit) points removed,” he said.

Malfunctioning speed cameras, who would have thought?

[Bobman]

Police Spt Ken Lay stated that fines won't be refunded because the "speed measuring device" was working satisfactorily.

The reason for the blurry images was put down to the bridge "swaying".

I always take care when driving on the bridge, as do most people anyway. There is only one bank of cameras each way, yet most of us still continue at the posted limit until we hit the bottom of the bridge (heading outbound). So, I support the cameras being switched off, as they are doing their job anyway, just by being there.

[Bossxr8]

If the safety cameras have been turned off and people now know about, hundreds of people are going to die now on the Westgate in the new few months. Cameras save lives.

[Bobman]

Cars will implode when they do 81km on the bridge and be sucked into the Yarra, via a special vortex escape hatch and then sucked into the dredging machine.

[Silver Ghia]

No wonder I never got a letter in the mail when I missed the variable speed sign saying 60km/hr (normally 80) because of a truck in the way and concentrating on negotiating the traffic after entering at Todd Road. Only realised after passing the cameras and got me worried for the next few days.

I always obey the speed limits over the bridge except the few instances of accidently going over as per above. Signage from Todd Rd is hopeless, they should have one before the entry. I now give the bridge a big miss anyway because of the traffic jams along the WG 'freeway' and Ring road.