Macca plans rough road
for Multanovas
From The West Australian
By Torrance Mendez
April 01, 2003
Everyone knows
the camera never lies.
But Welshpool businessman
Peter McLernon believes Multanova speed cameras are behind a catalogue
of lies.
He wants to champion
a group - Citizens Against Misuse of Multanovas - to get to the truth
of the roadside machines and their effect on curbing the road toll.
It's Macca's hunch
that most Multanova cameras ping motorists speeding 5kmh to 10kmh
above the limit and that there are few crashes where speed 5kmh to
10kmh above the limit is an issue. "In other words, the Multanova
has no bearing on the crash rate or the death toll," Macca says.
Last year, Multanovas
and red light cameras brought in $46 million - a $10 million increase
owing to the introduction of tighter tolerences for speeding and,
to a lesser degree, targeting the new 50kmh backstreets speed limit.
Macca supports
the popular belief that the speed cameras are little more than revenue
raisers blighting the good progress of honest men and women.
"I often wonder
how many people have lost their jobs subsequent to losing their driving
licences, how many people are suffering real financial difficulty
as a result of fines and how many citizens have been lumped with a
record stemming from camera infringement," Macca says.
CAMM aims to gather
worldwide statistics on use of Multanovas, speeding and motor vehicles
crashes, disseminate information to members and lobby for abolition
or change.
It's a tough call,
Macca.
"With a society
based on speed and efficiency that allows drivers to own vehicles
that are capable of speeds often exceeding 200kmh, it is a fact that
speeding will never be eliminated," he told IC.
"If the Government
was dinkum about reducing the number of deaths we'd all have electric
cars speed-limited to 50kmh with one-metre thick bumpers."
Macca says no organisation
has opposed successive government policy on Multanovas. His will be
the first.
God speed.
