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
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