It looks like the state government wants to pick up some quick cash by removing speed camera warning signs 'as a safety measure...'
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Transport Minister Andrew Constance admits extra funding would be collected saying it will go into a community road safety fund.
But doesn't the government say speed cameras are put in locations with a crash history to slow motorists down so if the signs are taken away doesn't that mean motorists won't be warned they're in a black spot area?
Speed cameras across NSW in 12 months already reap more than $185 million and Woodward Street in Orange is a good earner collecting around $42,000 while drivers going through Lucknow contribute around $10,000.
So if the government wants more speed camera cash it will be only a matter of time until it turns on its point-to-point speed cameras to monitor cars as well as trucks.
The cameras work by measuring the time it takes to drive between two points and then calculates the average speed of the vehicle and if it's higher than the speed limit the driver will cop a bluey in the mail for speeding.
But, taking the cameras just out of Bathurst between Raglan and Meadow Flat on the Great Western Highway as an example, 30 seconds is the difference between being booked or getting through on time.
So if the government wants more speed camera cash it will be only a matter of time before it turns on its point-to-point speed cameras to monitor cars as well as trucks
- Denis Gregory
The cameras are about 25km apart and with a 100kmh average, which is the limit on that section of road, the time allowed would be 15 minutes.
If your elapsed time is only 30 seconds quicker, taking 14 minutes 30 seconds, your average speed jumps up to nearly 104kmh and you're busted.
Cover the distance 30 seconds slower in 15 minutes 30 seconds and your average drops back to just over 96kmh, meaning you're safe.
Sixty seconds slower and your average drops to 94kmh.
You can imagine heading off to Sydney with a stop watch or maybe a rally computer to comply.
Mobility scooters
A District Court judge wants to get tough with mobility scooters, or gophers, recommending they be insured, their speed limited to 3kmh in shops and for riders to have a medical test after one ran over a woman and broke her leg in a Woy Woy plaza.
The rider said she was in a rush and didn't see the woman.
A Senate committee looked into the use of gophers to see whether tighter regulations were needed because of the way some dare-devil owners raced around.
Accident statistics collected by Monash University showed 62 people had been killed in a 10-year span and 442 people taken to hospital with injuries.
Former Nationals Senator John 'Wacka' Williams who retired in June began the push for tougher rules for the scooters after his wife Nancy was hit by one and received a serious hip injury.
In Orange some of the more daring already believe they're Formula 1 drivers as they tear along footpaths, zig-zagging in and out of pedestrians and dodging shoppers in supermarkets.
Orange Police a few days ago were alerted to a rider who was merrily cruising down the northern distributor road and there's been a few cases of people falling off while heading home from the pub.
People now don't need a licence, insurance or regular health checks to get behind the wheel of one of these things.
But maybe soon they will.
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