A distraction from you-know-what: A few months ago we had a brief conversation here about whether the public would accept the use of traffic cameras to enforce road rules, and I pointed out that Melbourne, Australia has a long history of doing so.
Now, I get to show you how it works.
During a recent trip to Down Under (bracketed by the bush fires on one end and the virus on the other), we rented a car, and on Valentine’s Day at 11:33am, I apparently exceeded the 40 km/h speed limit by 9 km/h. (That’s 5.4 mph in a 26 mph zone.) Today’s mail brought me a reminder of that day, a fine for AUD 207 (US$ 124). The notice allows you to view the actual moment of transgression. Here it is:
By the way, they reduce the detected speed by 2 km/h, to 47 km/h, to “allow for tolerance in detection equipment.” That’s the only tolerance that exists in the Victoria zero-tolerance traffic safety environment! I immediately paid up.
You can run but you can’t hide Levy.
‘xactly!
I understand the intention of this practice e.g. peoples’ safety, deter recklessness, and increase public safety, etc. However, where will monitoring crop up next? With some of these practices, one can be left feeling that this is an invasion of one’s privacy. Is face recognition in the public domain next? Big Brother is always watching, and as much good that this may contribute, it feels like this has the potential to be abused. We can’t walk into these practices blindly.
Truly impressive. At the same time the Australian government was bungling wildfires that consumed half a continent and a pandemic that sickened thousands, they were still able to ticket Paul for going 5 miles an hour over the speed limit.
I’m in complete agreement with the comment from wza. Too much Big Brother!
Paul you are a good egg for sharing this. If you study up on road design you will see that wide open roads encourage people to speed, so not 100% your fault. Countries that have implemented speed cameras with the goal of safety, such as SPAIN, encourage drivers to use GPS units that remind them when they are driving over the speed limit.
This isn’t Big Brother. This is an effective safety improvement and if you haven’t heard we have a huge issue with rising death tolls on our roadways. Driving even 5 miles over the speed limit is a big deal. A driver going 30 mph instead of 25 will take 45 more feet to stop their car, so they are less likely to be able to avoid a crash. The faster you drive, the less you see. This is referred to as cone of vision and means you might not even see the pedestrian or vehicle coming from the side in time to react. A pedestrian hit by a driver going 30 mph has a 40% chance of death or serious injury vs. 20% if driver is going 25mph. https://safetrec.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/motorvehiclespeedresearchbrief_2019.pdf So for everyone’s safety (driver and pedestrian alike) slowing down is a great idea.
Exactly, right, Alicia. Victoria understands that most traffic fatalities and injuries can be prevented. In fact, they have a goal of reducing traffic deaths to zero. This goal is strongly supported by the public and has had long-term bipartisan political support. No one I know in Melbourne views the traffic cameras as a kind of Big Brother privacy infringement. They view it as a useful–and necessary–step to save the lives of their families, neighbors, friends, and the community at large. And they understand that even 5km/h makes a real difference in the likely rate of fatalities and injuries.
Paul and Alicia,
My contention is that the use video surveillance can be abused. The outcomes can prove to be pernicious for various stigmatized groups and society as a whole. This is what humans do, and they do it in an unprecedented fashion devoid of scrupulous.
@wza, unfortunately the ship has long ago sailed on that one.
Fear, outrage build over Cambridge’s surveillance cameras (2009)
https://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20090129/NEWS/301299852
Brookline traffic cameras left on around clock (2016)
https://www.wickedlocal.com/article/20160515/NEWS/160518828
Here’s what those cameras see when you drive through those new toll gantries on the Mass. Pike (2016)
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/12/12/here-what-those-cameras-see-when-you-drive-through-those-new-toll-gantries-mass-pike/bHnMsQMn3crHvgavYFX5ZP/story.html
The State Police know every time you drive on or off Cape Cod (2019)
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/04/06/the-state-police-know-every-time-you-drive-off-cape-cod/ydJthj2DQYn6TKcstpPYYM/story.html
Michael,
Yes, the ship has sailed. Yet, technology ALWAYS takes on new and privacy-invading dimensions e.g. cellphones, computers, and iPads. Humans DO NOT like limits. For those that are in disagreement with my hypothesis, please examine history.
I love wza comments. At one level they are so exactly how I feel. And at another level so misplaced. The deep and extraordinary all-pervasive level of surveillance and monitoring from government and private organisations in the US is not just largely unchallenged, but actively enabled by most of the population for social media and security reasons. Continued major undermining of democracy by this monitoring barely causes a ripple. Lol. Using speed cameras is probably the absolute best use of surveillance, directly saves lives. It’s a no-brainer.
Rod