Good news, everybody!...

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26074126-601,00.html

"A NATIONAL police commissioners' plan to force motorcyclists to wear
front number plates has been dumped after 10 years' study, at a direct
cost of almost $500,000 and millions more lost in government revenues."

 

Dunno what it would cost to rotate all of Victoria's speed cameras to
snap the rear plate, like everywhere else in Australia, but $500,000
would certainly have made a start.

OTOH if PLan B is a RFID solution I might be leaving the champagne in the
fridge.

 

Millions lost in revenue? They must be joking.

If the proposal had gone through, Australia would have been one of only
half a dozen countries which require front numbers on MCs.

It's also worth noting that front plates are not required on CARS in
some states of the USA.

So if the rest of the world can get by without front plates on MCs then
I guess the whole proposal was a non issue, from both a road safety and
a revenue position.

As for Mr Scruby, his comments are in line with his other bleatings
expressed on road safety.

Thank gawd the whole thing got thrown out.

Rob.

 

In aus.motorcycles on 15 Sep 2009 09:02:00 +1100

They are. Or rather being a bit wild with the estimates.

Wonder why you never see actual numbers as a percentage of
uncollectable camera photos?

That's because they are low. As I undestand it, motorcycles that
can't be pinged because they can't read a plate are not that much
higher percentage wise than cars they can't ping because they can't
read a plate.

And as a percentage of tickets issued, it's not that much.

There are a few idjuts, but very few. The famous "wheely past the
camera" photo is well over 10 years old, you'd think they'd have more
if it was a real problem.

In Victoria it's because they want to charge on the tollways.

I think WA is whining because they don't have an owner-onus law and so
use front facing cameras so they can take a pic of the driver's face.
(Good luck with fullface helmets matey!)

Given the lousy e-tag record[1] I think the RFID idea is fairly dead
before it starts.

Zebee

[1] I had my etag in the breast pocket of my jacket. On the same day
I went through the M4 tollgates 4 times in one direction and 4 times
in the other. so that's 8 times, and it only read the tag properly 3
of those 8 times.

 

Here's Scruby's 2004 rant:-
http://www.walk.com.au/pedestriancouncil/Page.asp?PageID=675

I question the manner in which the statistics are presented in the
article...$2M for all vehicles but drop in the front numberplate issue
and link bikes with the first figure?

 

And 2000 times
Wot rot.

 

Yes. If you assume 1 minute to do a 'cycle' and that is over 1 day of
continuous riding...

P

 

There's statistics, lies, bullshit, and newspaper reporting. Usually
in that order.

Theo

 

In aus.motorcycles on Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:01:26 -0700 (PDT)

And then there's "The Australian".

Zebee

 

I like the sticker - "is that the truth, or is your News Limited?"

Best. Andrew

 

Today on 2UE talkback this newspaper article was brought up and they got
Paul Gibson on (same camp as Scruby)he can not see why his perfectly
sensible suggestion,(while with staysafe)that we should couple etags
with cameras was not followed

 

Not sure why you keep reposting this nonsense. Both of the Tollroads in
Melbourne are equipped to collect number plate information from the
front and the rear and have been for a number of years. One tolls
motorcycles. The other does not - they have the ability to, but they
have chosen not to. It's time to update your front-numberplate spiel.

Nev..
'08 DL1000K8

 

I commute across the bridge. Used to carry an eTag in my jacket pocket
and used to be that I'd get a couple of pay-your-toll-cahn notices in
the mail per month from the gantry and eTag not talking to each other,
but a lot more flashes from the gantry camera than that...

....so I put two and two together and stopped carrying the eTag
altogether. I've been doing that for a year and I average about two
unpaid-toll notices a week.

 

You will get that with newspapers Yeebok,
you even get the same story over all the 3 commercial TV channels word for
word
All out of the same news box

 

At least they didn't claim it was over 9000 times.

 

Queensland Transport is investigating the benefits of a zero alcohol limit
as part of its four-year motorcycle safety strategy, along with new
technology to prevent bikes escaping speed camera detection.

Radio Frequency Identification Devices are being developed to help overcome
the problem of motorbikes not having a front registration plate by allowing
bikes to be identified through other means.

Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said identification was an issue for police
trying to enforce the road rules.



"Some really irresponsible motorcyclists as they go through a speed camera
will even reach back and put their hand over the number plate so the
motorcycle can't be photographed," Mr Atkinson said.



"So they're the ones in my view who are at a higher risk of death and injury
and they're the ones we really need to stop."

He said he was confident technology would solve the problem.

"There will be something that can be put safely on the front of a motorcycle
that would be an identifier for the motorcycle, and would link the
motorcycle to a registered number or a number plate."

 

It is part of news.com.au which far as I understand is owned by the same
people/company as Fox in the US .. and from a quick skim of both stories
(http://www.news.com.au/story/0,,26074445-2,00.html) besides them
leaving a couple of paragraphs out (news.com.au is crap at copy/paste..)
it seems pretty much verbatim.

 

And the ultimate proof of the uselessness of statistics is when they use
the example of the motorcyclist who sped 2000 times as proof that speed
kills....

Nev..
'08 DL1000K8

 

aren't stats wonderful - pick whichever one suits your purpose at any
given time.... !

betty

 

http://www.australia.to/index.php?o...attempting-to-avoid-speeding-detection-mosman

"
A 39-year-old Collaroy man was subsequently charged with 62 traffic
offences including 31 counts of using a vehicle not complying with
class A number plates and 31 counts of exceeding the speed limit (5
counts of exceeding the speed limit by less than 15km/h, 16 counts of
exceeding the speed limit by more than 15km/h and 10 counts of
exceeding the speed limit by more than 30km/h).

"

...and he was riding a Harley.

http://jillianskinner.com/Media/Press_Releases/Skinner_congratulates_top_cop_200709.html

He wasnt speeding 2000 times..he covered the plate at various
locations around Sydney..toll gates..speed cameras..etc.

Having a front numberplate would have made no difference.