| Queensland Increases Penalties by 33% |
| November 11, 2008, 8:50pm by Rookie ROX |
From January 1 2009, Queenslanders will be digging deeper to pay for their offences following a 33% increase in penalties state-wide.
The Queensland Government announced that under changes to the Penalties and Sentencing Act 1992 the amount of a single penalty unit will increase from $75 to $100. This means a subsequent rise in all offence penalties, with the most noticeable area being traffic fines.
It has been estimated that this will bring in an extra $70 million a year in revenue. Despite criticisms regarding the move being a blatant revenue raising tactic however, the increased money will go towards improving general road safety through areas such as;- Road safety education and awareness campaigns
- Improving blackspot areas on state roads
- Increasing the number of traffic police and police motorcycles
- Purchasing new handheld LIDAR and mobile speed cameras
The announcement also revealed that Queensland Police will start trialling the use of new unmarked mobile speed cameras in conjunction with the current marked mobile cameras. Roadsmart will endeavour to establish the types of new cameras that will trialled, however is wary of the use of covert cameras due to their higher likelihood of arguments for revenue raising and detraction for their true road safety intentions.
R~R
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| Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) |
| October 3, 2008, 12:52pm by PyrotiX |
 CRIMTRAC's planned automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system could become a mass surveillance system, taking as many as 70 million photos of cars and drivers every day across a vast network of roadside cameras. State and federal police forces want full-frontal images of vehicles, including the driver and front passenger, that are clear enough for identification purposes and usable as evidence in court.
"All vehicles passing through a fixed or mobile ANPR camera will have the data recorded and available for interrogation," CrimTrac told the Queensland TravelSafe inquiry into the use of ANPR for road safety. "Existing camera applications, such as Safe-T-Cam, red light and speed cameras could be upgraded where necessary to provide constant live streaming to a central database. "National connectivity would be achieved through secure digital networks for fixed cameras. Law enforcement agencies would also use mobile units."
"CrimTrac has told us there will be 5000 cameras around the country, overwhelmingly in populated areas, taking some 70 million photos every day. There'll be maybe 1000 cameras in downtown Sydney, close to that number in Melbourne, perhaps 100 or so in Brisbane."
Click here to learn more about how ANPR works in Australia.
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| No one thinks big of me? |
| August 24, 2008, 2:37pm by PyrotiX |
 YOUNG male drivers will be hit below the belt as Queensland looks for a novel approach to reduce the state's soaring road toll. The State Government is expected to take up the successful "pinkie" campaign, which mocks the manhood of young blokes acting like hoons behind the wheel of their car.
The New South Wales anti-speeding campaign has led to a significant reduction in fatalities and the number of deaths from P-plate driver crashes. The television ads display the message: "Speeding. No one thinks big of you." One vignette shows a grandmother doing the pinkie sign as a woman is almost run down by a leadfoot; another features two young women bending their little fingers at a young hoon driver; while the third has the driver's backseat mates mocking him after almost spinning out.
Click here to read more..
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| More Fixed Speed Cameras for Queensland |
| July 1, 2008, 8:46pm by Rookie ROX |
 Queensland will soon be joining its southern counterparts with the announcement of more fixed speed cameras by Police Minister Judy Spence.
The State Government will be upgrading and increasing the current number of red light cameras to digital technology. The cameras will also double as fixed speed cameras. This means the cameras will not only be able to record persons who run red lights, but also catch persons speeding through intersections on green or amber lights. Ms Spence said the first cameras will be introduced next year.
Assistant Police Commissioner Peter Martin said the loss of lives on Queensland roads was "very disappointing".
"Drivers are not heeding some very simple advice to wear seatbelts, not to drink-drive or speed, and not to drive when fatigued," he said
This comes however with the current road toll considerably less than the same time last year.
Whilst the announcement will undoubtedly cause discontent among motorists as the revenue raising debate once again rages, Roadsmart however hopes the Government;- Maintains current mobile camera guidelines restricting the placement of cameras in known blackspots.
- Continues the current scheme of empty camera boxes and camera rotation at intersections.
- Ensures the location of all cameras are signed so as to ensure revenue is not an apparent motive.
- Continues policing measures targetting other anti-social behaviours such as drink and drug driving.
- Continues the use of proactive road safety measures, rather than solely reactive measures.
Roadsmart and the NRMA however agree that a visible police presence will never be overshadowed as the greatest deterrent to anti-social driving behaviours.
R~R
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| QLD Confiscation Laws Statewide |
| June 29, 2008, 10:42am by PyrotiX |
 Car confiscation laws to tackle hooning will go state wide in Queensland from Tuesday after a trial saw nearly 1500 cars locked up. The Type 2 hoon laws target repeat offenders who are charged multiple times with one of five offences.
Offences include driving an unregistered or uninsured motor vehicle, driving while unlicensed, failing to supply a specimen of breath or blood, drink driving over 0.15 per cent and driving an illegally modified vehicle. Police Minister Judy Spence warned repeat offenders to beware.
"Flout the law and you could lose your vehicle for 48 hours for the first repeat offence, up to three months for a second (repeat) offence, or permanently for a third (repeat) offence," she said. Ms Spence said the laws would help identify areas where a high volume of people were repeatedly offending. "We've had it going in probably two of the busiest areas of the state (since July 2007) ... down at Logan City and the Gold Coast, which are particularly problematic areas."
Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said it was important to take irresponsible people off the roads as they contributed at a greater rate to the road toll and traffic crashes. "With three relatively young men killed overnight, one only 18 years of age, we've now lost 152 people on the road so far this year," he said.
"About 90 per cent of the people (who have had their car confiscated) so far on this trial, did not have a licence or were disqualified, and we think that this is very significant." Ms Spence said it could cost as much as $255 to get your car back after a 48 hour confiscation and thousands of dollars in fees if vehicles were held in storage for months. "What we've found is that a lot of these cars are not being retrieved because the cars are bombs and owners don't want to pay the money to get them back," Ms Spence said.
As a result, Ms Spence said the Type 2 hoon laws were already benefiting students on the Gold Coast. "The Queensland Police Service is today donating two vehicles, seized under the new laws, to the Palm Beach Currumbin State High School," she said. "Students will work on the cars as part of their automotive classes."
Want to know more? See 'Queensland Vehicle Impoundment'
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| QLD Introduces Cumulative Disqualification |
| June 1, 2008, 8:50pm by PyrotiX |
 The cumulative period of disqualification applies to persons in Queensland convicted of more than 1 drink or drug driving related offence committed after May 18th 2008.
A cumulative period of disqualification is the sum of each period of a disqualification that has been imposed by a court on a person convicted of a number of drink or drug driving related offences. The person will be required to serve each period in its own entirety, one after the other in the order that they were imposed.
To learn more about cumulative disqualification, click here
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| Dramatic crash footage |
| April 30, 2008, 3:25pm by PyrotiX |
 A driver in New South Wales was taken for a ride when a semi-truck slammed into the car pushing it for more than a 100 meters. The oblivious truck driver didn't slow down until he was flagged down by police.
Amazingly the driver of the car was not hurt in all of this but the truck driver says he didn't even know he had struck the car. To see the footage click here
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| New laws to target hoon glorification |
| February 28, 2008, 2:37pm by PyrotiX |
 The laws provide for fines and prison sentences at the same level as actual hoon behaviour, $3300 fines and up to nine months jail for repeat offenders. New South Wales is set to introduce tough new laws which punish not only car hoons, but also those who glorify their dangerous exploits online. The news of the anti-hoon glorification laws comes as National Nine News exposed a Sydney motorcyclist who published video footage of himself riding at up to 100km/h above the speed limit.
The YouTube video, called ''fanging it around Sydney'', was posted by Vigilantee123, and shows the motorcyclist travelling at high speed through school zones and suburban streets. NSW Police Minister David Campbell told National Nine News that people who had "the gall to gloat" are about to face tough penalties. "We will be introducing tough penalties for people who participate in group hoon activity, organise, promote or encourage others to participate, or film or photograph street races or burnouts with the intention of glamorising or promoting the activity," he said.
The laws provide for fines and prison sentences at the same level as actual hoon behaviour, $3300 fines and up to nine months jail for repeat offenders.
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| A Picture of You |
| February 27, 2008, 8:14pm by Rookie ROX |
 As a means of fighting the ever increasing road toll, Victoria's Traffic Accident Commission (TAC) announced a new style of advertising campaign featuring family members who had lost loved ones in speed related crashes.
The campaign features a 3 minute television advertisement and will be coupled with billboards, radio spots and mass online promotion. The new campaign is a step away from the usual graphic campaigns that rely on high fear arousal, and instead evokes different emotions, in an attempt to increasing the levels of campaign acceptance. This follows increasing research and pressure by accident research centres such as Queensland University of Technology's Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety Queensland (CARRSQ) and Monash University's Accident Research Centre (MUARC) to move away from fear campaigns.
Each family member holds a photograph of the person which supports the tag line "This is why you're photographed when you speed". Read more here
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| Toombul Legal Street Meet |
| February 22, 2008, 2:14am by PyrotiX |
 Every third Thursday of the month in an abandoned carpark just north of Brisbane city, hundreds of car enthusiasts congregate and talk cars with one another without the looming concern of been targeted by Police.
That’s because officers from Boondal Police Traffic Branch have taken it upon themselves to run a ‘Legal Street Meet’ for enthusiasts and like-minded people. Roadsmart will be attending future meets and we encourage other enthusiasts to get involved so that we may see these events continue. The next meet at the Centro Toombul Carpark will be on March 20th 2008, commencement at 8pm. To see photo’s from the February ‘Legal Street Meet’ click here.
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