Article from: www.thenewspaper.com/news/05/596.asp

8/13/2005

Australian Speed Camera Accuracy Woes Continue
New South Wales, Australia government appealing minor traffic fines to the state supreme court in the wake of ongoing accuracy scandal.

Despite being under increasing fire over the accuracy of the state's speed camera network, officials in New South Wales, Australia have begun appealing court decisions challenging the integrity of the technology all the way to the state supreme court.

In one instance, Walgett resident Peter Nichols won his $207 case against a Hunter Valley speed camera after the Roads and Traffic Authority failed to prove the device had been properly calibrated. Now the RTA has filed an appeal of the case which will be heard in the NSW supreme court by the end of the year.

The RTA is mounting another supreme court appeal against a Kincumber motorist who successfully proved in court that she was nowhere near the school zone speed camera on The Entrance Road in Bateau Bay on the two occasions that the machine accused her of speeding. The same camera was scrutiny in another case where a driver was issued a ticket to another driver twice in two minutes, which was proven in court to be impossible. The school zone camera in question is set up with a speed limit lowered to 40 km/h at times that differ from all other school zone in the region -- without flashing warning lights or other notification.

On the M5 highway in Sydney, truck owner Warren Symons received a ticket in the mail claiming his vehicle was driving 93 km/h in an 80 km/h zone during the morning rush hour commute at 8:15am on September 15, 2004. The photograph of the incident shows traffic backed up in all lanes ahead of the truck with brake lights active, meaning the ticket was clearly inaccurate.

While the RTA dropped that case, fifteen other trucks that Symons owns have all been ticketed for driving precisely 93 km/h this year. "I can't believe that each time our trucks have been caught they have all been doing exactly the same speed," Symons told the Sydney Daily Telegraph. Symons will fight each ticket in court.

Source: Speeding truck stuck in gridlock (Sydney Daily Telegraph (Australia), 8/13/2005)

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