Right: Displaying a sense of humour, an anti-camera protester dressed this Melbourne unit in a shirt and warning sign. (Detail from a photo taken by Tony Taylor, for the Melbourne Herald-Sun)
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Further implications
Speeding fines and the operation of speed cameras are a highly emotive issue. TAC surveys conducted in 2009 indicated that 59 percent of those surveyed believed the cameras were primarily a revenue-raising device. A similar survey conducted the next year showed the number had risen to 69 percent. Scepticism within the community regarding speed cameras appears to be very high.
The most recent Victorian Auditor General's report on the operation of speed cameras suggests that negative media coverage contributes to the popular perception that the cameras are either faulty or are primarily revenue-raisers for governments. Clearly there is no story in reporting that a speed camera worked effectively or that hundreds of thousands of people across Australia acknowledge they were speeding and pay their fines without complaint, if unhappily. However, the almost entirely negative focus in the media on the operation of speed cameras can have unfortunate consequences.
There are those who argue not only that speed cameras are sometimes defective or that the fines are too high. Some opponents of speed cameras actually claim either that the cameras do not alter driver behaviour or that speed itself is not a key element in causing road accidents and increasing their severity. The last claim, that speed is not a significant factor in road accidents is a very dangerous one as a large number of reputable studies have demonstrated the direct opposite.
It is obviously easy for some motorists to tell themselves they are sufficiently skilled or know the road well enough to be able to speed without risk. However, studies from around the world have demonstrated that this is not so. Although speed may not be the sole contributory factor to accident causation, it is a major one. Further, when an accident occurs, the more rapidly a vehicle is travelling the greater the damage inflicted on those within it.
Therefore, the prevailing tendency within some sections of the Australian media to focus on the supposed faults of the nation's speed camera network could have the unfortunate consequence of encouraging motorists to believe both that they have a right to speed and that they can do so in safety.