There are two camera office units in the Northern Territory, based
in Darwin and Alice Springs.
Images taken at school zones during school hours. The bus
was travelling at <> km/ per hour and the truck at <> km/hour. At
the time the MAXIMUM allowed speed limit was 40 km/ hour. What
chance would a small child have against one of these vehicles travelling
at such high speeds?
Letter sent to NT News by Assistant (now Deputy) Commissioner
Wernham:
I refer to recent letters to the Editor by R MacLeod and others
relating to the operation of speed cameras. The letters
have variously suggested that the images produced bythe cameras
can be altered and are therefore unlawful, that police time keeping
is faulty and that school zones have been targeted at unreasonable
times.
Now seems an appropriate time to introduce some factual information
to avoid further misinformation and speculation.
The LaserCam digital camera used by the Northern Territory Police
provides two images of each infringement – one is a close
up of the vehicle including the number plate, the other shows
its position on the roadway. The camera, which is connected to
a field computer, records a digital image of the event whilst
the computer enables the infringement image to be sent (in computer
language) to a "Write Once Read Many" (WORM) CD.
As the name suggests once the information is transmitted to
the CD it cannot be altered. Part of the information recorded
is the time of the offence. This is recorded by a computerised
clock, which is set by staff at our Police Electronic Services
Section.
Camera operators in the field cannot influence this aspect in
any way. School zones have been monitored over the period
half an hour before and after the school bell. The object, of
course, is to have maximum impact when children are around. Generally
operations are ceased five minutes before the end time of the
school zone.
While we try to be as fair as possible we make no apology for
giving school zones a high priority – children deserve it.
In summary, all operational and legal aspects of Speed Cameras
were thoroughly canvassed before their implementation. I should
add that they are set up in full public view -not behind trees-
any driver travelling at the speed limit will have no difficulty
in seeing them.
