The Age

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/06/30/1056825334931.html

Camera network set to catch Hume speedsters
July 1 2003
By Andrew Heasley
Transport Reporter

Speeding motorists who beat the law by slowing down as they pass fixed speed
cameras are about to face a new adversary: the point-to-point camera.

Ten cameras to be installed along the Hume Freeway soon will measure the average
speed of cars over the entire 300-kilometre journey between
Melbourne's northern fringe and Wodonga.

Drivers whose overall progress is faster than the speed limit allows will be
fined. Drivers will also be caught if they are speeding as they pass a
camera.

A $2 million contract to install the system has been awarded to camera
company Redflex Holdings.

The company said yesterday the cameras combined digital imaging and optical
character recognition to read vehicle number plates. The cameras would be
networked and synchronised.

"It's very cost effective because it covers long distances with a minimal
number of (camera) systems," said Redflex Holdings' chief executive Graham
Davie.

But the move was questioned by the RACV and criticised by the State
Opposition as a revenue-raising exercise.

RACV public policy manager Ken Ogden said he feared drivers might take secondary
roads with higher crash risks to avoid the cameras.

"A two-lane, undivided road has a higher crash rate," Mr Ogden said.

"We'd rather see a greater visible police presence in their vehicles on the
roads."

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said the cameras were "nothing more
than revenue-raising devices" that would require motorists to drive looking at
the speedo at the expense of attention to the road. "They'll have to drive with
robotic precision and they're going to have to proceed down a hill with their
brakes on," he said.

A spokesman for Police Minister Andre Haermeyer said: "For people who don't
speed, there's nothing to fear from this technology".

He said 38 people died and 418 were injured on the Hume Freeway between between
Craigieburn and Wodonga in the 12 months to June 30 last year.


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