West Gate Bridge speed cameras turned off.

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http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...82-661,00.html

Malfunctioning West Gate Bridge speed cameras turned off
Matthew Schulz
May 22, 2008 09:19am

SPEED cameras on the West Gate Bridge have been secretly switched off for two years because they are unreliable.

Police have this morning confirmed that two banks of speed cameras launched in 2005 at one of Melbourne’s worst traffic blackspots were turned off just over 12 months later.

Assistant Commissioner Key Lay confirmed the secret move, telling 3AW Radio police were forced to act because the cameras were inaccurate.

He said the cameras were turned off permanently in September 2006.

“We were seeing a lack of clarity and at times we weren’t able to identify the offending drivers,” Assistant Commissioner Lay said.

He confirmed there were “quite a number” of motorists booked for speeding, but police also rejected “many, many more”.

“Because of the number of rejections ... we simply turned it off,” he said.

But he said police and the State Government had kept the malfunction secret because authorities believed they worked as an effective deterrent.

“The thing with speed cameras is that we know that they slow people down and we know if people think they’re there they will slow down.

“The decision was made to keep people alive.

“If people think the cameras are there they will generally obey the speed limit and avoid collisions.”

The West Gate Bridge cameras were the only ones in the state that were permanently off, he said.

A redevelopment of the West Gate bridge could allow working speed cameras to be installed about 12 months from now, he said.

Leading Australian QC David Galbally told 3AW Radio that if there was any doubt about the accuracy of the cameras anyone fined in 2005-2006 should have their fines refunded.

“If there was some doubt they ought to have those (demerit) points removed,” he said.

Malfunctioning speed cameras, who would have thought?