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QLD Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson caught speeding on Story Bridge, fined $133

POLICE Commissioner Bob Atkinson has been caught speeding on the Story Bridge a blunder he has revealed two days after police and The Courier-Mail launched a road safety campaign.

Mr Atkinson was caught on February 3 and was believed to be travelling at 70km/h in a 60km/h zone.

He will lose one demerit point and pay a fine of $133.

Mr Atkinson said he was embarrassed because of his position and because he had just been promoting the road safety message to media.

"I feel as though I've let you down, I feel as though I've let my colleagues down (and) I feel as though I've let the community down," he told reporters in Brisbane.

He has blamed the offence on a lapse in concentration.

He told reporters that he did not see the speed camera flash while he was driving with a colleague to police headquarters.

"It was brought to my notice that there might be an issue last Friday," he said.

It's not the first time the police chief been nabbed for driving too fast.

Mr Atkinson said he received a ticket for a similar speeding offence in 2009 while holidaying in NSW.

He said he was also caught speeding in 1998 when he was an assistant commissioner in far north Queensland based at Cairns.

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Perth - Mitchell Freeway Fixed Speed Camera - Poliscanspeed Hell Raiser

ALMOST 80,000 speeding motorists have been clocked by a single fixed speed camera on Perth's Mitchell Freeway since it was first trialled in December.

After the 12-day trial - during which 20,000 speeding motorists were snapped - Perth's first freeway fixed speed camera has caught 78,723 vehicles travelling over the 100km/h speed limit, according to police figures released today.

While most were only marginally over the limit, with 75,200 caught doing less than 110km/h, at least one motorist in the past week was clocked at 213kmh and another at 159km/h seconds later.

``That obviously gives us an indication that cars are racing on the freeway, which gives us great concern,'' Assistant Police Commissioner Gary Budge said.

So far, 36 motorists have been caught travelling at more than 45km/h above the limit, meaning they could have their vehicles seized under so-called ``anti-hoon law'' legislation.

Canberra - Lightning strike delays cameras

A LIGHTNING strike has given some speeding Canberra drivers a month's grace.

Point-to-point cameras on the territory's roads will not start working for another month because cameras were struck by a bolt of lightning during a thunderstorm in December.

The cameras were located near the intersection of Hindmarsh Drive and Mugga Way at Red Hill.

While the destroyed cameras were quickly replaced, the connection between the cameras and loop detector set into the road surface was damaged.

The cameras subsequently failed testing by an independent body earlier this month.

ACT transport regulation acting senior director Brett Swale said the problem had been fixed and now awaited the green light from certifiers Societe Generale de Surveillance Australia before becoming operational in late February.

The certification process will take place in the coming weeks and involves a test vehicle, mounted with a timing unit, passing through the detection points.

The recorded times are then checked to ensure the devices are accurate within a tolerance of 2per cent.

Mr Swale also moved to allay concerns the speed cameras had no margin for error.

Motorists have raised concerns that mid-2006 changes in the Australian Design Standards for speedometers could mean that Canberrans driving early model cars could be slugged with a fine through dodgy readings.

While he could not reveal the margin for error allowed in ACT speed traps, Mr Swale said Canberrans should not fear if they stick to the set limits.

''All traffic cameras in the ACT, including point-to-point cameras, take into account a small margin of driver error,'' Mr Swale said.

''If people drive within the speed limit then they won't have a problem.''

Mr Swale urged motorists to get their vehicle's speedometer checked if they were concerned about faulty readings.

Italy: More Officials Arrested for Photo Enforcement Corruption

Two police officers arrested and four raids conducted as part of ongoing investigation into speed camera corruption scandal in Italy.

A pair of senior police officers in Brindisi, Italy were arrested Tuesday in a speed camera bribery scheme. The owner of a BMW X6 blew the whistle on officers Giuseppe Manca and Antonio Briganti after a speed camera accused him of driving 160km/h (99 MPH) on state route 16, where the limit is 110km/h (68 MPH).

The driver faced a fine of between 500 to 2000 euros (US $650 to $2615) plus license points. The officers offered to make the conviction disappear for payment of 250 euros (US $327) in cash. The officers were able to erase the conviction from the speed camera logs to prevent detection of their tactics.

The attempt at secrecy failed when the BMW found he was out of cash. The driver's account of what transpired is supported by surveillance video showing one of the policemen escorting him to a bank in the village of Pezze di Greco to withdraw money. Judge Paula Liaci ordered Briganti and Manca to be placed in preventative detention.

Meanwhile, the public prosecutor in Grosseto conducted four raids on the offices of speed camera companies in Capagnativo and Scarlino. Investigators uncovered irregularities in the way speed camera contracts were handed out in those jurisdictions between 2005 and 2007. Previously, local police handled speed camera operations, but prosecutors insist forgery, corruption and bid rigging led to the decision to contract out the photo ticketing services.

Investigations into Italian speed camera fraud have been in the works for years. Earlier this month, seven were arrested in Frosinone for rigging speed camera contracts. In March, the Guardia di Finanza announced five indictments in Brescia. In August 2009, speed cameras were shrouded in black plastic as up to 200 officials faced charges in Caserta. In September, a judge ruled that a group of 15 mayors, cops, speed camera company employees should stand trial on fraud charges.

Queensland Australia - More than 3000 speeding drivers nabbed

Almost 100 people have been booked for drink driving and more than 3000 have been detected speeding in the first 24 hours of the annual Christmas Queensland police road blitz.

No deaths were recorded, although 24 people were injured in 20 accidents across the state, police say.

In the 24 hours from midnight on Thursday, police conducted 11,914 breath tests and 37 drug tests on Queensland drivers.

Just one person tested positive for drugs while 95 drivers were taken off the road for driving with a blood alcohol limit above 0.05.

Police cameras detected 2318 vehicles speeding while another 854 were booked manually.

Both figures are up on last year, when during the same period 1720 motorists were booked by speed cameras and 561 manually.

Overall 900 more people were booked (3316 offences) in the first 24 hours of the annual Christmas police road blitz than for the same period last year (2408).

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