Nothing - A sixty minute video of nothing.

Every had an idea that seemed silly at first. Nothing is one such idea. A video of nothing for sixty minutes. Nothing on the screen, no sound, nothing.

At first I thought the idea was a waste of time, but then I started to think, perhaps that could be useful when testing computers or mobile phones. I checked the internet and 10, 12 and 24 hours of nothing had been done, so I thought what about an hour. That's a good period of time.

So I decided to go ahead and do Nothing, a video about nothing.

Remember those days when you'd quickly minimise the screen so your boss or others didn't see what you were doing and it wasn't work.  Have the Nothing video running in the background and now you can switch the screen quickly and when asked what you're doing, the truthful answer is Nothing.

At times when I find it hard to sleep I picture black, my mind drifts and I picture black again, but it's hard to picture black. But if you watch Nothing and then close your eyes, it is really easy to picture black.

A black screen makes it look like a computer or mobile is off, when it actually isn't.

Having a black screen running in the background puts your focus much more on what you're working on in the foreground.

The Nothing video makes a good timer. You know what an hour is up. You can check the elapsed time at any time, but it doesn't distract you.

Apart from the many puns I came up which gave me no end of amusement (that's worth it in itself), I'm sure others will have ideas with what they can do with Nothing.

You can find Nothing at https://youtu.be/UOCrsrvadS4, or should that be something!

Kelvin Eldridge

Top red light speed camera for NSW is located near Newcastle.

I must say I didn't expect the top red light speed camera in NSW for 2018/2019, when measured by the number of fines, would be located not in Sydney, but near Newcastle. The location for the top red light speed camera in NSW for 2018/2019 is at the intersection of Griffiths Road and Turton Road, Lambton.

As I was reviewing the data for the Speed Cameras NSW / Red Light Camera NSW one thing stood out that I felt worth investigating. If you look at the top red light speed cameras for NSW by value of fines, the location in the 6th position has the most fines by number. It really stands out. I decided to review this camera and location to see why it possibly gets so many fines.

To the credit of the NSW government the data provided is very good and quite detailed. Here's a summary for the 2018/2019 year for the camera at Lambton for the number of fines.

Motor vehicle exceed speed limit - 10 km/h and under: 6,937
Motor vehicle exceed speed limit - over 10 km/h: 2,803
Motor vehicle exceed speed limit - over 20 km/h: 112
Motor vehicle exceed speed limit - over 30 km/h: 20
Motor vehicle exceed speed limit - over 45 km/h: 1
Proceed through red traffic arrow: 8
Proceed through red traffic light: 304
Total number of fines: 10,185

From the above we can see most of the fines were for speeding as opposed to going through the red light. Around 68% for under 10 km/h and 28% for over 10 km/h.

As to why people were speeding I have some ideas, but really they're just my thoughts and not research based. Your opinion is just as valid so I'll leave it up to you to ponder.

For those interested in this intersection and red light speed camera the following link is for a YouTube video. I start the video at the 13 minute mark near the roundabout at Newcastle Link Road and Transfield Avenue, Wallsend. The red light speed camera is around the 16 minute mark.

This video is sped up so if you want to watch it in near real time I'd suggest changing the speed in the YouTube settings to 0.5 and muting your sound.

YouTube video of location at 13 minute mark.

YouTube video at 16 minute mark just before red light speed camera

In the video you'll noticed at the 13:28 mark the speed limit changes from 90 to 60. 

If you check Google maps and Street View, the view taken February 2017 the speed limit dropped to 70. In the view in May 2018 this had changed to 60. It is interesting to note in 2017 the speed limit for this red light speed camera was 70 km/h, although what the speed limit was a few years ago isn't really relevant, but I still find it interesting. The real result in terms of safety is when you take the change in speed limit and then check the corresponding road statistics for this section of road. Have the fatalities and injuries reduced, or have the fines simply increased with no corresponding benefit?

2016-2017 Fines: 1,872, Value of Fines: $443,896

2017-2018 Fines: 4,505, Value of Fines: $885,124

2018-2019 Fines: 10,185, Value of Fines: $1,898,150

For the section of road after the Main Road and Newcastle Road roundabout, heading east along Newcastle Road/Griffiths Road, to after the Griffiths Road and Turton Road intersection, the following are the crash statistics for 2014-2018.

2014 Non-casualty (towaway): 20, Minor: 4, Major: 19, Serious: 7, Fatal: 0, Total: 50

2015 Non-casualty (towaway): 10, Minor: 7, Major: 9, Serious: 5, Fatal: 0, Total: 31

2016 Non-casualty (towaway): 8, Minor: 5, Major: 7, Serious: 8, Fatal: 1, Total: 29

2017 Non-casualty (towaway): 6, Minor: 7, Major: 9, Serious: 0, Fatal: 0, Total: 22

2018 Non-casualty (towaway): 9, Minor: 5, Major: 7, Serious: 1, Fatal: 0, Total: 22

Keeping in mind the speed of the section of road was reduced in late 2017 from 70 to 60, the total number of accidents hasn't changed, there's an increase in non-casualty (towaway), an increase in serious, but there is a decrease in minor and major accidents. It would be interesting to know what happened in 2014-2015 as that was a period of significant change.

I hope others find this information interesting.

Kelvin Eldridge

www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au/nsw/

Speed camera locations / red light camera locations in NSW now show number of fines and value of fines.

It's taken many thousands of copy and pastes, but after a few days of work, I've now added the number of fines and value of fines to the NSW map on the Speed Camera Locations site at www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au/nsw/. Selecting a camera will take you to a detail page where you can see the number of fines and value of fines for fixed speed cameras and red light speed cameras in NSW.

Knowing the number of fines and value of fines in an easy to view format, helps people to know which cameras are collecting the most revenue because more people are making the same mistake. Generally that means there's more chance one of those cameras may catch you when you make the same mistake.

The majority of people drive according to the road rules, some don't, but most do. Most of us however make mistakes and if that's recorded by a camera, it can be very costly indeed. Knowing where more people make mistakes can help you identify what mistakes they may be making and help each of us become a better and more compliant drivers.

From my own experience in the past, I know for example after driving on a higher speed roadway such as a country road and then dropping down to a lower speed limit, your perception of speed is really put off. It is very easy for your speed to creep up even though you have no intention of speeding, but the result is the same. You get a speeding ticket. Whilst taking videos of red light cameras/speed cameras in the CBD area of Melbourne, where the speed limit is 40 km/h, it was exceptionally easy for the car's speed to creep up. You really have to focus far more on your speed than in the past which is a concern, as it takes your concentration off the road.

I've read with speed cameras and red light cameras there can be an increase in injuries from rear end accidents. For a few of the cameras I read about in NSW, this was sometimes the case.

There are quite a few differences between cameras in NSW and Victoria and it really is interesting to know. For example in NSW there is more warning of an approaching camera and best of all, you're  advised in the warning sign what the road speed limit is. In Victoria it's often hard to tell what the speed limit is for a road and often there's no speed limit sign for quite a distance before a camera.

In NSW there's quite a lot of fixed speed cameras (including in school zones) on regular roads, whereas in Victoria there's mostly red light speed cameras with only a few fixed speed cameras on freeways.

In Victoria if you're flashed by a camera facing you it's unlikely it's you being booked. In NSW there's many speed cameras (and one red light speed camera) that will record an offence from the front of the car.

In Victoria most cameras record one side of the road in the direction the car is travelling and from behind. In NSW many cameras can take pictures covering both directions from the back of the car, or the front of the car.

What is amazing is that even though in NSW there appears to be far more warnings and information provided to the driver, there's still a huge number of people being fined.

When I read the statistics on the number of fines, what concerns me for us as drivers, is in our parents' day, if I recall correctly, there was a tolerance of 10% when it came to speeding fines. If you read the statistics, if that tolerance remained today, most people would not be fined (possibly greater than 80%).

Hopefully the updated NSW map of fixed speed cameras and red light speed cameras highlighting the number of fines and revenue for each camera is useful to others.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au/nsw/

Eastlink Southbound Video and Eastlink Northbound Video.

As I was taking videos of speed cameras for my site www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au on the Eastlink and surrounding area, it occurred to me that some people may like to see the video of the full length of Eastlink in both directions. If this interests you, can find the Eastlink videos on YouTube using the following links.

Eastlink Southbound Video - From Springvale Road, Donvale, through the Mullum Mullum Tunnel down to Seaford.

Eastlink Northbound Video - From Seaford, through the Melba Tunnel to Springvale Road, Donvale.

Hopefully you'll find the videos useful.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au

Red light speed camera locations in NSW

The Speed Camera Locations site was built to cover Victorians, to help people who had erred and received a red light camera fine or speed camera fine. By finding out more about the location, understanding what may have led to the fine, we can modify our behaviour to ensure we reduce the chances of receiving a future sign. Not everyone who gets a fine is a lead foot out doing the wrong thing. The majority of people are like you and me.

I couldn't help feel the same technology could be used for our neighbours to the north in New South Wales. We all drive on similar roads, make the same mistakes, so perhaps the technology I've put together for Victorians could also help those in NSW.

As can be expected it will take some time to determine and map all the speed camera locations and red light camera locations in NSW. Rather than wait for all cameras to be determined I've made the NSW section of the site live with the first type of cameras. Red light speed cameras have now been uploaded for the red light speed cameras in NSW.

The next type of cameras, fixed speed cameras in NSW is currently being worked on and will be progressively uploaded.

You can find Red Light Camera Locations NSW and Speed Camera Locations NSW at www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au/nsw/.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au

Petrol price alert: Petrol prices in Melbourne increasing to 175.9

A couple of days ago I noticed the Woolworths Clarinda petrol station put their unleaded petrol price up to 179.9. I thought this was a bit steep as the average gate price was going down. The average gate price is currently 133.9 for unleaded petrol. To go up nearly 45 cents seemed a bit steep based on previous prices hikes.

Today a number of petrol stations have put up their unleaded price to 175.9 which we can now expect to be the current hike price.

It's hard to say if prices will go up before this coming weekend for the first wave of holiday makers returning from holiday, but it's almost certain the prices will be up for the following weekend for the rest of the holiday makers.

For a couple of years the price hike was between 25-30 cents above the average gate price, but recently that has increase to around 40 cents per litre. Since nothing been said by the powers to be about excessive price increases, we can only expect the price hike each time to now be around 40 cents per litre.

It's time to keep an eye on prices and fill up as and when required. Then if you're using the 7 Eleven fuel app, wait until you feel you can lock in the low price for another week. Last month I managed to save over $17 for a tank of petrol using the 7 Eleven fuel app. Makes the $2 saving I make using discount vouchers look tiny, but every bit helps.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.PetrolPricesMelbourne.com.au