5/1/2006
Australia: Speed Cameras Continue to Hide in VictoriaDespite release of speed camera locations, operators continue to hide the devices and receive abuse from the public.
Although officials in Victoria, Australia released the locations of speed cameras for the first time last month, the state continues to use hidden traps against motorists. These operations appear to violate police regulations prohibit camera tactics that "would generate public perceptions of sly operations."
"You could see they were trying to hide it," Malcolm Sellars said, describing the speed camera car he photographed hiding behind trees on Wednesday to the Herald Sun. "I reckon it's just money grabbing, that's all it is."
Opposition party leader Robert Doyle has been calling on Labor leader Steve Bracks to be more open about camera operations. "Steve Bracks' credibility is in tatters over speed cameras," Doyle said. "Victorians who know how to drive safely continue to be the victims of a Labor Government obsessed with keeping the precise details of speed camera tolerances secret so that the revenue-raising can continue unabated."
Meanwhile, the forty-six unsworn public employees who operate speed cameras in Victoria say that attacks on them should carry the same penalty as an attack on a real police officer, which carries a five-year prison sentence. Operators complain of constant abuse from the motoring public. One employee said that in three hours he was flipped off a total of 73 times.