Covid risk calculator and chart

Tonight I came across an article on a Covid  risk calculator so decided to investigate. I think it turned out to be worthwhile.

On the Immunisation Coalition's they've provided a Covid risk calculator and a useful chart which shows the Risk of Dying from COVID-19. Both I feel are quite useful pieces of information to help inform people about the risk of not getting vaccinated. Each of us need to keep ourselves educated and I feel this type of information can only help.

Covid Risk Calculator | Immunisation Coalition

Covid risk charts all versions (immunisationcoalition.org.au)

The Covid Risk Calculator only covers the situation where there's up to 2,500 cases per day which is quite a lot lower than the current level of cases in Victoria. I don't know if it would be correct to assume that means the risk is four times higher (with the current level of daily cases) but it's never good to assume.

Sadly what I did get out of the calculator is I have a much higher chance of getting a speeding ticket in Australia than catching or dying from Covid. Now if I get a chuckle from this comment that is probably a good thing. At least you're reading this article and may check out the links above.

And for those who want to reduce the chances of getting a speeding ticket perhaps check out www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au

Kelvin

Bunnings click n collect hacked email advice appears to be legitimate.

Yesterday I received and email from Bunnings to let me know the third-party company that provides their click n collect booking provider (Flexbooker) had been hacked and my email address and name details may have been accessed by the hacker.

Initially I wondered if the email was a scam. A quick check of the email led me to believe the email was legitimate. My email address is public and my name is public so really I can't see there's any greater exposure from the breach.

I decided today to share my thoughts in case it helps others confirm the authenticity of the email. This doesn't mean hackers won't further use the information and the announcement to try to trick people so take additional care.

For those interested in what I check, I initially just checked to see all links in the email were to legitimate  and went to Bunnings. Today I went further and reviewed the email headers and the email was sent from a Bunnings address. It appears that Bunnings uses Salesforce as the IP address used came up as being Salesforce.

With email never let your guard down. The scammers never give up so always take care.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

NSW speed limit can now be found for road using Speed Camera Locations.

A few times people have asked me what the speed limit is for a particular road near a fixed or mobile speed camera. The only way I've been able to find the speed is to review the video footage or using Google Street View. Both approaches are time consuming and also could be out of date. People can also do this themselves.

Recently I was investigating speed zone data and found for NSW, the government provides access to a map which can let people know the speed limit on roads in NSW. Whilst the NSW data may also be out of date so care needs to be taken, it now provides another option for those in NSW to check the speed limit of a road.

To make it even easier for people to find the speed of the road at a speed camera location I've added an option to the Detail page for a speed camera which provides a link to the location on the NSW map.

To find the speed limit for a speed camera in NSW first locate the speed camera on the Speed Camera Locations site. 

If found on the map click on camera icon to see further information and then click on the Details link. If found using the Locate option click on the link to display the Detail page.

On the Details page you'll see the new option "Check Speed Limit".

Click on the Check Speed Limit link and you'll open the NSW map where you can check the speed limit for a road.

Click on the green line on the road at the location you're interest in and a pop-up will appear showing the speed limit information.

You can also use the map to find the speed limit for any road in NSW.

For those in NSW I hope this new feature is useful. Hopefully in the future I'll be able to provide similar features for other states.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au

Australian celebrities who have caught COVID-19

A little while ago I started collecting links to Australian celebrities who caught COVID-19. My original reason is so many people believe (and it feels like the government and media have supported the belief) that if you're vaccinated you can't catch COVID-19. There's even a catch phrase "break-through cases" to make it sound like it's rare. 

From what I read it's not true. Being vaccinated does not stop you from catching COVID-19. Even the peak dose load does not change. What does change is the ability to more quickly fight and recover from infection if vaccinated. The idea people excluding non-vaccinated people and treating them less perplexes me. Unvaccinated people are more at risk of serious illness, but whether we're vaccinated or not, we can still catch and spread COVID-19.

Having said that, what I did find interesting is that each celebrity has their own and unique story to share and thought sharing their stories may be of interest to others. Each celebrity's personal experience lets us better know what to expect if we get infected. I am thankful the celebrities took the time to share their experience. As I read stories of other celebrities I'll add them to the list.

Jessika Power

Peter Helliar

Chrissie Swan

Hugh Jackman

Martha Kalifatidis and Michael Brunelli

Mel McLaughlin

Georgia Love

Anthony Callea

Tristan McManus

Glenn McGrath

Bernard Tomic

Natasha Exelby

Karl Stefanovic

Leigh Sales

Take care everyone.

Kelvin Eldridge
Victoria - Cases By Postcode

I wonder how many people who get fined for speeding know they're even speeding.

One of the problems I feel there may be with our system of penalising people for speeding is most people probably don't even know they've been speeding until 2-3 weeks later when they get one of those dreaded letters in the mail.

When I ask around, most people I talk to who have received a speeding fine didn't know they were speeding at the time. Actually so far there's been no one. One person said they should have known but didn't. In my own case of speeding fines, one I was slowing down to return to the speed limit as I knew I was over, but in all other cases I didn't know I was speeding. The last two fines I could have sworn I wasn't speeding. I've probably only had about 5 fines over 40 years of driving so I really don't intend to speed.

If people don't know they're speeding then there's very little chance they'll modify their driving behaviour. Yes, they'll try to modify their behaviour but chances are they'll inadvertently speed again. I recently read the following article which listed four broad categories of speeding, three of which I'd suggest fall into the "didn't know they were speeding category".

http://casr.adelaide.edu.au/rsr/RSR2011/1APaper%20094%20Duck.pdf

The four broad categories of speeding according to the research are: slips, lapses, mistakes and violations.

Slips are when the drivers actions are not as intended. E.g. applied more pressure on the accelerator than intended and slip over the speed limit.

Lapses are when an individual fails to initiate an action. E.g. fails to look for a speed sign so exceeds the speed limit.

Mistakes are when someone successfully takes action but it's incorrect for the situation such as assuming to speed limit is more than it actually is.

Violations is when someone intentionally exceeds the speed limit.

I suspect most of the speeding and perhaps even red light camera fines are as a result of slips, lapses and mistakes. Behaviour that for most is something that is difficult to modify.

When the above report was written in 2011 the general road user didn't have the tools readily available to all of us today. In the testing the researchers used an Intelligent Speed Assist device (ISA) which alerted drivers when they exceeded the speed limit. Today at least two companies provide apps we can use to achieve the same outcome. The two I prefer are Google's Waze and Tomtom's AmiGo. The app I prefer and use the most is Tomtom's AmiGo. The following is a link to a video showing AmiGo in action.

TomTom's AmiGo new, bigger, better, overlay mode - YouTube

Now if you think you don't need an app like AmiGo I can tell you that every time I drive Tomtom's AmiGo alerts me that I've speed due to one or all of the three categories. For example driving in a hilly area  it's easy for the speed to creep up (a slip), to not see a speed sign ( a lapse) and to assume because I can see an 80 km/h speed sign when I turn into Springvale Road from Mitcham Rd the section of road is 80km/h where in fact it is only 60km/h. It's not just me because everyone is doing the same. However AmiGo helps me with very little effort to comply with the speed limits. 

Another benefit of Tomtom's AmiGo over Google's Waze is AmiGo let's you know the speed limit as you approach red light speed camera. I often feel Victoria's speed zone signage is very poor. For example in NSW when you approach a speed camera the sign also let's you know the speed and is place prominently before the camera. In Victoria the signs are smaller and there's no reminder of the speed. In Elgar Rd, Box Hill the speed sign is approximately 700 metres before the camera which is around 40 to 50 seconds travel time and to me that's a long time without seeing a speed sign when this is supposedly an area with a safety issue.

I nearly always drive with AmiGo running as it really is a good driving aid. I can easily check the speed of the road I'm travelling on so slips, lapses and mistakes are quickly corrected if need be.

As a final comment I do think the Victorian government should provide a Speed Assist Device app for Victorians as NSW do for their constituents. The benefit of a government provided tool is there's no need to collect our data as private companies do. At the moment it appears the Victorian government's main aim appears to be to penalise us rather than to provide the tools to help us. The government should be doing both.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au