Thursday, January 28, 2021

Melbourne's top five mobile speed camera locations.

After reading the 7 News article on the top five fixed camera locations I followed the link to the article they referenced and the site CarExpert also lists the top five mobile speed camera locations.

Victoria’s top earning speed cameras | CarExpert

The following is a list of the locations.

Black Forest Road in Wyndham Vale, between Brimpton Grove and McGrath Road with 3740 infringements

Wetherby Road in Doncaster, between Doncaster Road and Koonung Creek with 3422 infringements

Oak Street in Parkville, between Park Street and Manningham Street, with 3338 infringements

Bell Street in Preston, between Harold Street and Watson Street, with 3321 infringements

Ballarat Road in Footscray, between Geelong Road and Jamieson Avenue, with 2930 infringements

For fixed cameras I've been able to take videos of nearly all the location around Victoria, but for mobile speed cameras it's much more difficult to get a video when there's a mobile speed camera car at the site. I've managed to video a few but none of the above locations. The link above only shows the road and not the mobile speed camera.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au

 

Sunday, January 24, 2021

Jumping the queue at KFC Eastland.

I was recently at Eastland and decided to have KFC. The problem is the queue was quite long. I wondered what would happen if I used the app. I had checked the app and the special on the app meant it was also cheaper.

I decided to go for it. I opened the KFC app, selected the store and placed the order. The order came up with my initials but not the order number number shown in the app. My order also appeared high up on the list so I may have jumped some existing orders (hard to tell) but certainly ended up jumping the queue of people waiting.

Perhaps not the most socially responsible thing to do, but certainly saved some time. Possibly one of the fastest services I've received at KFC Eastland.

One downside is if you're a senior and have a Seniors Card, you can't get the senior's discount using the app. No free offer either that appears on the receipt if you provide feedback. However, the special in the app in this case was a better price.

Kelvin Eldridge


Saturday, January 23, 2021

Victoria's top five speed cameras now includes Rosanna Road and Darebin Street.

I noticed on the nightly news recently there was a mention of the top five fixed camera locations around Melbourne and how many fines were issued. The following link provides the information from the 7 News site.

Melbourne's top earning speed camera locations revealed including Heidelberg, Chadstone, St Kilda | 7NEWS.com.au

Below are links to videos for each location.

Intersection of Rosanna Road and Darebin Street in Heidelberg (northbound) with 23,807 infringements

Intersection of Warrigal Road and Batesford Road in Chadstone with 23,401 infringements

Intersection of King Street and La Trobe Street in West Melbourne with 18,502 infringements

Intersection of Fitzroy Street and Lakeside Drive in St Kilda with 18,107 infringements

Intersection of Terminal Drive and Centre Road at Melbourne Airport with 11,593 infringements

It is interesting to note Rosanna Road and Darebin Street in Heidelberg is now the top location in terms of fines. As a new red light camera/speed camera people are often not aware of the location. Also there's a large amount of traffic.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au

Friday, January 22, 2021

Thirty three elderly people in Norway who had received a coronavirus vaccine, subsequently passed away.

This week we saw the first article relating to deaths of 33 elderly people in Norway who had received a coronavirus vaccine. There is no evidence the people died as a direct result of the vaccine.

Pfizer vaccine deaths: No direct link between vaccine and 33 Norway deaths (news.com.au)

What is interesting is I recall when in one country the elderly weren't vaccinated, but the young. If I recall correctly, I believe this was for the flu. By vaccinating the young the elderly were protected. In Australia we  vaccinate the elderly against the flu.

Given there may be some concern for the elderly with vaccination against COVID-19, it may be worth considering if vaccinating the elderly is the best option. If all people that come in contact with the elderly needed to be vaccinated, is that enough to protect the elderly.

When you get vaccinated for the flu you can have a significant reaction. Some people actually feel so bad they feel like they've caught the flu from the vaccine, but that's not possible. Their body however appears to react as though they have. If an elderly person's body responds as though they have caught the virus, the question becomes, is that sufficient for the elderly to experience severe complications, possibly leading to death? 

I certainly don't know, but with around 1 in a 1,000 people dying in Norway who have received a vaccine, it's important people remain very aware.

Kelvin Eldridge

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Almost a third of people who go to hospital, return to hospital and of those one in eight may die.

I thought the following article was particularly eye opening. It turns out almost a third of people who go to hospital, return to hospital and of those one in eight may die.

Almost a third of recovered Covid patients return to hospital in five months and one in eight die (yahoo.com)

Kelvin Eldridge

Perhaps it's time the government used larger events to find if there's COVID-19 cases in the community.

I was reading the news article on the partying at Bondi Beach and whilst I'm not in favour of large scale gatherings in general due to the risk of COVID-19, particularly in hotspot areas, it did give me an idea.

Coronavirus live updates: Backlash grows over North bondi party (news.com.au)

In Victoria COVID-19 cases are currently zero in terms of community transmission. There may still be infected people that don't know they're infected and in time those people will infect others. Either that or there is really no community cases of COVID-19.

The idea that came to mind is if there are hidden cases of COVID-19, if we had large controlled events where people registered (think The Australia Open or football matches) then if a COVID-19 case did occur, the contact tracers could more easily trace where the case came from. Yes it does mean there is a risk of people getting infected, but if there's no cases in the community, there's no risk. If there are cases it's one way the government can find the cases and enable people to do what they want to do, knowing there's a risk involved.

Even a party at Bondi could be held as long as everyone who went registered. People would actually be helping the community by partying.

Perhaps it's time the government was a little more creative and looked for ways to give people more freedom rather than their current strategy of excessively removing freedoms.

Now it could easily be argued that to allow people to participate in risky activities should never be allowed, but we also have to remember in the early days of COVID-19, Queensland held two elections where millions of people turned out and not one case of community transmission was reported to my knowledge (although I'm happy to stand corrected). We can live in fear or we can look for ways where people can do more in a controlled way.

Kelvin Eldridge

Bike trail videos now released twice a week on Wednesday and Saturday.

As my use of YouTube evolves I like to release videos in a way that makes sense to people. I've decided for that reason to release new Bike Trail videos on Wednesday and Saturday. Real-time drive videos will be released on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

There's always the possibly of other videos being released such as new or updated red light camera/speed camera locations. Also there may be one off videos I wish to share with others. These videos will mean that on some days two videos will go live. One in the morning and one at night.

The following is the current list of Bike Trail videos

Bike Trail, Main Yarra Trail, Part 2, Heidelberg to Abbotsford

Bike Trail, Southbank Promenade, Yarra Promenade, Orrs Walk, South Wharf Promenade, River Esplanade

Bike Trail, Main Yarra Trail, Part 1, Templestowe to Heidelberg

Bike Trail, Koonung Creek Trail, Donvale to Ivanhoe East

Bike Trail, Green Gully Trail, Templestowe

Bike Trail, Edithvale Seaford Wetlands Environment Area

Bike Trail, Wingrove Park Trail, Eltham to Eltham South

Bike trail, Fitzsimons Lane, Diamond Creek Trail, Templestowe to Eltham Aldi via Eltham Lower Park

Bike Trail, Albert Park Lake

Bike Trail, Westerfolds Park Circuit, Templestowe

Bike Trail - Ringwood Lake Park, Ringwood

Bike Trail - Mullum Mullum Creek Trail, Ringwood, Croydon

Each week two new adventures will be shared with those who are interested.

For me taking videos and sharing the videos helps to keep me motivated to get out and try to stay in some form of shape. Thank you for watching the videos as it makes me feel others are interested in the videos and that also encourages me to keep making the videos.

Another reason I take the videos is for when the weather isn't so good, I can use the videos to ride the exercise bike and enjoy the ride again whilst I exercise. Hasn't happened yet, but I also hope to have a virtual ride with family where we both pick a ride and share the ride whilst we both use the exercise bikes.

For whatever reason you choose to watch the videos, thank you.

Kelvin Eldridge

Monday, January 18, 2021

Nearest Train Station site moved to Mapz.com.au

On a regular basis I review the websites I've created and determine whether or not they should have their own domain name, or live under a group domain. This is largely a cost decision based on usage. If enough people are visiting the site then a separate domain is justified, if not then, due to cost, it's best the site is moved to one of the common group domains I use.

Low usage doesn't mean the site isn't useful to people, it's often that Google is not giving priority to the site so people can't find the site. For example during Victoria's COVID-19 outbreak I found the site I had where I shared public locations (at that point the government wasn't sharing the information), that Google really only seemed to share/prioritise government sites and news sites. It makes sense as we all want quality information, but also it shows us how the information we receive is considerably filtered. At other times sites that I build may simply be of little use to others. The only way to know is to build the site and see how the site goes.

In the case of Nearest Train station, I created this site as my daughters would often have me pick up a friend or two and then ask to be dropped off at the nearest train station. At the time finding the nearest train station using Google wasn't easy and hence the web site was developed. Google sees what people search for and over time they'll make the information available within Google Search. The more people that stay within Google Search and don't leave increases the display of ads and thus revenue for Google. This is one reason many sites may become less relevant and get less traffic.

Personally I still find the sites I created handy and use them regularly. So instead of killing off the sites when usage decreases I incorporate them into one of my group sites. Sometimes www.JustLocal.com.au, but in this case www.Mapz.com.au.

The Nearest Train Station site and Nearest Tram Stop and Nearest Vline Station pages can now be found on Mapz.com.au using the following links and are also available from the Mapz site.


I hope others find these pages to be useful as I do.

Kelvin Eldridge

Thursday, January 14, 2021

Bike ride around Southbank

I recently decided to ride the Gardiner Creek Trail and Main Yarra Trail into the city. I like to take videos of the bike trail rides to share on YouTube. At the end of the ride I decided to continue riding along Southbank. It was such a pleasant day and it was an enjoyable ride to simply take the time to enjoy the city scape.

https://youtu.be/rgg0AGmLXwA

Kelvin