MEDIA RELEASE
15 February 2007
Police take advantage of
Faulty School Zone Flashing Lights
The three sets of $36,000 RTA school zone flashing lights on Taren Pt Rd Caringbah that failed on Tuesday morning were still not working late Wednesday afternoon. It seems that the RTA does not make use of the expensive and much-touted back-to-base monitoring capabilities of the signs.
Somewhat disappointingly the Police took advantage of the situation by setting up a radar trap in that school zone from 2:30 - 4:00pm on Wednesday afternoon. See time-and-date stamped photos attached. The first shows the Police in the northbound lane and the non-functional southbound sign. The others show the non-functional northbound signs approaching the radar trap. High-res copies available.
Not only did the Police set up in the knowledge that the lights were not working, they also set up in a location that would take full advantage of another extremely unfair and dangerous situation that exists in many school zones including that one. There is a set of traffic lights in the middle of the zone with no 40kmh sign beyond the lights. Naturally many motorists sitting at the lights for several minutes forget that it is a school zone by the time the lights turn green.
The Police set up their radar trap on the far side of the lights. That meant they were not only able to trap unwary motorists coming along Taren Pt Rd but also coming along Captain Cook Drive and The Boulevarde. All had potentially stopped at the traffic lights after passing their respective 40kmh signs.
The above highlights firstly the need to address the issue of traffic lights in school zones and secondly the problem with the government's intention to only install lights on a "needs basis". Apart from the child safety aspect it leaves it open for Police to take advantage of school zones that do not have flashing lights.
If the risk to children from motorists exceeding 40kmh is too low to warrant installing flashing lights in a particular school zone then either that zone should not be 40kmh or the Police should be instructed not to book motorists who exceed 40kmh. The government cannot have it both ways.
In situations where there are traffic lights in the middle of a school zone there should always be a 40kmh sign beyond the lights. If an earlier sign has flashing lights on it then so should that sign.
PS. It is interesting to note that most if not all 40kmh speed camera sites in the area suffer from the traffic lights problem. A cynic might be tempted to suggest that it has something to do with revenue raising, as the problem (feature) would have been glaringly obvious to the highly skilled "road safety experts" who decided on the locations for the 40kmh signs and speed cameras.
Taren Pt Rd radar trap showing faulty southbound lights
Taren Pt Rd faulty northbound lights before radar trap
Taren Pt Rd faulty northbound lights before radar trap
For more information contact:
Peter Olsen
11 Maple St
Lugarno 2210
0414-538-404
9012-5298 bh
9599-1811 ah