Pacific Highway speed camera debate

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-22/pacific-highway-speed-camera-debate/3906676/?site=sydney

Point-to-point speed cameras will be installed near the site of a fatal crash on the Pacific Highway.
The cameras will measure a 13 kilometre stretch of highway from Urunga to Valla.
At this stage, they'll only focus on heavy vehicles and calculate their average speed over a set distance.
The cameras ensure a vehicle's average speed between the two points doesn't exceed the speed limit.
The Premier Barry O'Farrell and Roads Minister Duncan Gay announced the move was announced earlier this week.
The Premier has promised that the cameras will be installed and operational later in the year.
"The best way of controlling speed is with any form of camera.
"They will be in by September this year," he said.
Coffs Harbour MP Andrew Fraser has welcomed the announcement.
Mr Fraser called for upgrading of the highway black spot to be fast-tracked after a fatal accident involving a truck earlier this year.
The Nationals member says the new speed cameras are an important added safety measure.
"I think what we have in place will ensure that the truck speed limits around here which concern a lot of people are kept to the legal limit.
"It sends a strong message that we as a government are looking to get this highway upgraded as soon as possible," he said.
Unhappy locals
But locals are upset the cameras will only target heavy vehicles.
Urunga resident John May heckled the roads minister during Tuesday's announcement.
Mr May says he's unhappy that existing speed cameras recently switched back on, but they won't be used to issue fines to speeding drivers.
The stationary speed camera operates in a warning mode.
But Duncan Gay has defended the move.
He says the device wasn't working from a road safety point of view.
"We turned it back on as a monitor not because we thought it was working in the past, it hadn't been performing an effective safety role and it wasn't going to in the future.
"But it's an important adjunct to our road safety monitoring to see if the changes that we're putting in place are working," said Mr Gay.
Government reverses
The minister has since back tracked on the issue of point -to-point speed cameras.
He told the ABC that cars hadn't originally been considered because of community opposition.
But locals have accused him of being out of touch.
Mr Gay has since said he's open to the idea of the new speed cameras being focussed on cars as well as trucks.
He says the technology can be used to check car speeds as well, if that's what the public decides.
"Whether they want cars included in point-to-point, the understanding we have at the moment and the current understanding in the roll out of these is it's just trucks.
"We're willing to listen to what the community wants.
"Our feeling is that they don't want cars included in this," he said.
But Urunga resident John May, says he's not sure who the minister has consulted, because locals would welcome any measures that improve road safety.
He says the government's initial decision to only target trucks is based on misinformation from lobby groups.
"I'd be interested in knowing what particular processes the minister goes about in judging what the people want.
"It's very important that his processes be pretty tight.
"If he puts in a system over this narrow, winding stretch of road in which trucks are going to have their speed monitored and cars aren't, I would like to know that the minister was relying on what the public really want here," he said.
Mr May says there's broad community support for all vehicles to be targeted.
"The community's tolerance for people to be driving illegally around here is pretty low.
"I think that the community would be supportive of the idea of a speed camera which measured cars as well as trucks," he said.