Queensland police trial new hand-held speed cameras that automatically issue tickets
Courier Mail - Queensland Australia
POLICE will unleash a new hand-held speed camera that will prove expensive for lead-footed motorists this Christmas.
The hi-tech camera can automatically record hundreds of speeding infringements.
Police will reveal the TruCAM device as part of an arsenal of resources aimed at cutting the road toll, which stands at 22 fatalities higher than last year.
A nine-month trial of the laser cameras began quietly in September.
One went to each of the state's 10 police regions.
The devices have an in-built digital video recorder so police do not have to write out tickets. And unlike fixed or mobile speed cameras, there are no signs warning drivers of their presence.
As well, speeding motorists who try to fob off demerit points to relatives or friends will have problems, as the TruCAM also has facial recognition capability.
"It automatically issues speeding tickets, like a fixed speed camera," South Eastern police region traffic co-ordinator Inspector Karen Shaw said.
"So you could do one four-hour deployment and pick up 260 speeding motorists."
Police at Southport Spit yesterday launched a massive road, waterway, beach and - for the first time - air blitz in a bid to cut the road toll.
Officers showed off an array of equipment they planned to use over the festive season, including highway patrol vehicles, motorbikes, "Rhino" four-wheel-drive beach patrol vehicles, jet skis and the new Gold Coast police helicopter.
The latest fatalities on Queensland roads involved two elderly men in separate crashes on the Darling Downs and in north Queensland
The state's road toll climbed to 258 with the death of a 76-year-old man in a single-vehicle crash at Kuranda early yesterday.
A 73-year-old man also died in a three-car crash near Warwick on Wednesday.
State Traffic Support Branch Superintendent Andy Morrow said elderly people only made up about 2 per cent of crash victims but their injuries were likely to be more serious.
"Everyone needs to heed the road safety message, but when elderly drivers are involved in crashes, they tend to be injured or die more so than other motorists," he said.
He said older drivers tended to drive less frequently and had more fragile health than those in younger age groups.
Supt Morrow said motorists could also reduce the risk of an accident by not assuming other road users would behave in a predictable way.
"Older drivers tend to be less assertive and slower. People need to look out for that."