If you thought speed camera and roadside police radar proliferation in your country was bad, spare a thought for the Aussies. More than 45,000 drivers in the Australian state of Victoria are on the verge of losing their licenses, with blame being centered on the number of speed cameras that dot the highways.

Australian licenses use a points system where drivers lose a certain number of points for each speeding offense, up to a maximum of 12 before having their license suspended. The Victorian road agency VicRoads has revealed that there are 9,000 more drivers close to losing their licenses then at the same time in 2005, with 150 speed cameras and 83 traffic light cameras on hand to monitor the state's 3.6 million registered drivers.

Opponents of the system regard the installation of speed cameras as just the latest form of revenue-raising for the government. For the 2007-08 financial year, state government revenue collected from regulatory fees, including speed camera revenue, increased by 6.2%. Of course, the regulators will always cough up the defense that the system is saving lives. We'll let you decide for yourselves.

[Source: Drive.com.au]

In the NSW state budget, the finance minister actually take into the account of the speed camera revenue into the offical budget. For the 07 to 08 budget the government estimate the speed camera revenue will increase by 13%.

I am dam well sure they will meet this estimation, because new speed cameras are popping up everywhere. We even have speed camera in the school zone, which demands driver to slow down to 40km/h from the normal road speed of 60km/h. The speed camera switch onto school zone mode during school hour and it goes back to normal speed camera mode afterwards. The speed limit for each road section is different and there are no road sign to tell drivers what are the current limit. Some speed cameras are placed behind the street light pole, so it is almost hidden from view, some other ones, like the 2 i have to go through per day are placed just behind the middle of a corner, behind a street light pole. The location of these speed cameras will not safe lives, what is the point of placing speed camera on a perfectly wide and flat roads?

I have seen people braking heavily and locking up their wheels just before the speed camera to reduce their speed. This sudden braking can definitely cause a car accident.

The road design and road signs in Sydney are absolute rubbish, if the government is serious about improving road safety, then they should improve the current road design and stop targeting innocent drivers driving on roads with absolutely ridiculously low speed limits.