Qld roll out covert speed cameras and increased on-road enforcement to catch out motorists over Easter
March 30, 2010
Covert speed cameras will be set up across Queensland amid a rise in police enforcement over the Easter holiday period.
Another 53 traffic officers and 106 police officers will be dispatched in a bid to improve safety.
Police Minister Neil Roberts says the covert speed cameras and unmarked motorcycles will initially be deployed in the metropolitan areas before being rolled out in the north and far north parts of the state.
“The Government announced the introduction of covert speed cameras and unmarked police motorcycles in December last year as part of a package of road safety initiatives aimed at stopping the carnage on our roads,” Roberts says.
“Up to 30 percent of mobile speed camera enforcement will be undertaken covertly using a variety of vehicles – not the usual vans and four-wheel-drive vehicles currently in use and with no advance warning or departure signs at the camera site.”
Roberts claims there is evidence showing people change their driving habits when they are uncertain of detection.
Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson used the announcement of the cameras to warn motorists.
“Covert speed cameras could be used anywhere, anytime in any vehicle in Queensland and if you are speeding, you are now more likely than ever to get caught,” he says.
Atkinson highlighted a suite of measures that would be used in conjunction with the speed cameras.
“Q-Cars, random drug testing, random breath testing, speed cameras, static and mobile speed detection and an increased presence from marked and unmarked vehicles [will be utilised],” he says.
Atkinson says police make no apology for using undercover tactics to prevent the road toll rising.