It’s a holiday weekend here in NSW so that means that it’s a Double Demerits weekend. Simply put, this means that, if you are caught breaking the law on NSW roads then the points deduction on your licence for that offence is doubled.
Police and authorities are at pains to remind us each time that this occurs that it is only licence points that are deducted and that fines for offences remain the same. This is a supposed answer to the criticism that it is thinly-disguised revenue raising under the guise of serious road safety measures. But the fact is that, it IS revenue raising as the extra police presence on the road and the employment of all vehicles available to boost the campaign (station and non-HWP vehicles are used) means that more fines WILL be issued and more money will be raised.
“But,” the proponents of DD weekends say, “If more traffic offences are detected, then surely that means that road safety is enhanced. After all, you don’t really want people who are breaking the law to get away with it, do you?” Well, this is none-too subtle blackmail at best. Police enforcement of the roads these days is almost totally devoted to detecting vehicles speeding. Since the “Speed Kills” mantra has become their total focus, their efforts at promoting road safety is solely directed at detecting and booking motorists who are speeding.
This regardless of the empirical evidence that shows that speed is only ONE of the factors that contribute to a rising road toll. Drink/drug-impaired driving offences are rising and, especially in holiday periods, the periods when DDs are mostly employed, driver fatigue on the highways increases dramatically. But speeding motorists remain the government’s cash cow and the revenue from this obsession is now an integral part of government budgets.
“But,” the police say, “We detect illegal drugs, unregistered vehicles, and all manner of other offences as well.” Yes, they do, but mostly because they have first stopped the vehicle because the driver has been detected speeding. The success at detecting these other offences is just a by-product of their obsession with catching people who are speeding.
Now, before someone says it, no, this homily is NOT as a result of being booked for speeding myself and I’m venting. Does it frustrate me to see other motorists blatantly breaking the law and not being detected? Of course it does. But the police are going about what they are doing the wrong way because their focus is wrong. Let me give you an example from my neighbourhood.
The old section of the Princes Highway north of Dapto is not a major through road now that the freeway has been constructed. I have lived here for nearly 19 years and travel the road regularly. Despite the fact that, in all that time, there has never been a major road accident on that stretch, the road is regularly policed by a camera car. Now, my understanding of the rationale behind fixed and mobile speed cameras was that they were to be deployed at traffic “black spots” to discourage speeding in these supposedly dangerous areas. There are numerous other spots around my suburb where camera cars and radar traps are employed, all of them in built-up areas and all of them in areas that are NOT black spots.
ALL of them, however, ARE spots where the speed limit is low and where it is really easy to detect motorists who are only slightly over the limit; easy pickings, in other words. Does this encourage a better attitude towards road safety by the general populace? Of course it doesn’t.
In fact, it has exactly the opposite effect. “People should respect the police,” we are told. But, how can we do that when their actions make it so easy for us to DISREPECT them?
And don’t get me started on mobile speed cameras, run by a private company whose total focus is making money. Anybody who knows anything about human behaviour knows that, in order for a punishment to be effective when a rule is broken, the punishment should be issued immediately or as close in time to when the offence is committed. Receiving a letter in the mail three weeks after you have been flashed by a speed camera is counter-productive for exactly this reason. Do speed cameras save lives, as the advertising wants us to believe? Well, since the only data we have is what the government wants us to have, we can’t really say, but the road toll certainly isn’t dropping dramatically is it?
Is Double Demerits a sham? I reckon it is. It is a great opportunity for flag-waving by the government who wants us to think that they know what they are doing and that they are doing something about the road toll. Yes, it may detect more speeding motorists than at other times, but a VISIBLE police presence ON THE ROAD is always going to be far more effective than having police cars hiding behind bushes and in suburban streets.
It was a rare, rain-free weekend so I had the opportunity of doing a little bimble up the mountain yesterday. Not many bikes at the Pie Shop but a good chat with a mate and a pie and a hot chocolate made it worthwhile.
Yesterday’s MotoGP round from Thailand was chaotic at best with the weather doing exactly the opposite of what the forecast said it would do. The Asian rounds should be moved to the start of the year, the “dry” season, weather-wise and then the European rounds should follow. It’s not rocket science, really.
Ducati are really in a bind. Despite Fabulous not scoring any points (wet tracks are his Achilles heel) he still retains the overall lead because Ducati have so many riders who can (and do) win and take points away from their #1 rider. Granted it was a KTM that won last night, but Miller finished 2nd and took away the opportunity for Bagnaia to close the points gap. With Miller’s excellent run in the last two races, finishing in front of Peco both times, he is now only 40 points behind the lead and in with a mathematical chance of winning the title. And, as long as Ducati management insist on not enforcing team orders, there is a slim chance that their departing #2 rider COULD take the #1 flag to their rivals, KTM. Nobody ever said that Ducati’s man management was great!
Marc looks like he is really back to his best or close to it. Cool and controlled and a 5th place on what is still a dog of a bike is pretty damn encouraging. Despite his time off this year, he still is way in front of the other 3 Honda riders on points; I sure hope that the 2023 bike is a big improvement, it needs to be.
