Bike Trail Melbourne site now live.

The bike trail site (site) showing videos of Melbourne bike rides I've completed is now live. The bike trail site shares my latest videos and earlier videos will be added over time.

All bike trail ride videos are available on YouTube but YouTube isn't the best place to provide additional details for the ride such as the route taken. The bike trail site will continue to evolve based on ideas I have, but often I find others making requests is a great way to find out what people would like or need, so please, if you have suggestions, feel free to leave a comment.

Kelvin Eldridge
https://www.onlineconnections.com.au/biketrails/

Update: 20/01/2022
Biketrails has now been moved from it's own site to under my Online Connections website. The level of activity at this point in time didn't justify the cost of running Biketrails on it's own site.

Possible faulty fixed speed camera Avoca Street, between Howard Street and Barker Road Southbound, Randwick

Recently a person on the Whirlpool forum went back and reviewed a speeding fine their mother had received at a fixed speed camera located in a school zone.

Avoca Street, between Howard Street and Barker Road Southbound,Randwick

Link to the Whirlpool post

Wrongly accused speed camera fine - Driving licences (whirlpool.net.au)

Three photos are provided at the bottom of the post and after reviewing the photos I would appear the person may have been driving at around 47 km/h and not the 59 km/h they were fined for. 

However at this stage there's one piece of information that needs to be confirmed before this can be verified and that is the spacing between the lines shown on the road. The assumption in the responses is the lines are spaced 1 metre apart, however if this assumption isn't correct and the spacing instead is 1.27 metres, then the person was travelling at 59 km/h.

Before saying the camera is faulty it is necessary to collect and confirm all facts and not make assumptions. There's no point challenging a fine unless you have all the information verified.

In addition this person has already paid the fine and unfortunately, even if this camera was faulty, based on the typical responses I've seen in the media when cameras are reviewed, is if you pay the fine you have accepted you were doing something wrong. I think this is not fair on the general public as people know if they challenge a fine there's considerable time involved and you may end up with additional costs. In effect, to use a very harsh term, it's effectively legalised extortion.

I'm currently challenging a parking ticket that occurred in November 2019 and to have my voice heard this has taken considerable time and much angst, plus I'm exposing myself to additional costs. It's often better to treat fines as a tax and move on. The system to me is all for the government and against the person, so you really need to have a strong case and luck on your side because in the end, it boils down to a magistrate who is employed by the government agreeing with your case. As an example I recently attended a hearing and the prosecutor did not turn up. Because the case was held virtually (I was present in the court) the council was given time to locate the prosecutor (possibly 10-15 minutes) so they could attend. If I had not turned up on time I would not have been given a second chance.

Back to the fixed speed camera in Avoca Street. If you're in the situation you're reviewing a speeding fine you need to check the photos to confirm the alleged speed. In this case the car travelled around 5 intervals as shown by the marks on the road. You know the time interval as that is given in the photos. You know roughly the number of lines on the road (although this an estimate), but you don't know the distance. You need to measure the distance from the start of one line to the start of the next. Multiply that distance measured by the number of lines and you have your distance. Then use Speed/Distance/Time calculator to work out your speed by entering the distance and time.

If anyone can measure the distance between the lines to confirm the distance, it would be possible to determine if this fixed speed camera was faulty or not.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au

Update: 4 September 2022
Finally managed to get to NSW and measure the distance between the lines on the road. They are roughly one metre apart (101cm) meaning the car was travelling at around 47km/h, below the 50km/h speed limit.

Further persistence by the Whirlpool poster ended up getting the fine dismissed. It really does pay to review any fine you receive.

Sadly the system does appear that only by asking to go to court will your case be review properly but in this case that was not necessary.

10km radius map - Victorian government increase 5km limit to 10km limit from 11:59pm on Thursday the 3rd of June.

The Victorian government has announced that from 11:59pm on Thursday the 3rd of June 2021 the 5 kilometre limit will be increased to 10 kilometres.

If you need a 10km radius map I've created the website (10km Radius - 10km Radius from home, 10km Radius from location).

Hope it helps in some way.

Kelvin

Best value of the Dominos 17cm, 25cm and 32cm value pizzas.

Dominos have introduced two additional Value Pizza sizes. A smaller 17cm size and a larger 32cm size in addition to the current 25cm size pizza at $3, $7 and $5 respectively. So which pizza represents the best value for money?

Based on the number of square centimetres per dollar spent the following is the result.

17cm is 302.5 square centimetres per dollar spent.

25cm is 392.5 square centimetres per dollar spent.

32cm is 459.3 square centimetres per dollar spent.

Now whilst we can't say anything about the coverage of ingredients on the pizza, based on size alone, as pizzas get larger you get better value with the largest size being around 50% better value than the smallest size.

Now whether you think it's a good or bad idea, like or dislike Domino pizzas, that's an individual choice.

Kelvin Eldridge

Bunnings Hakuna Extra Large Pet Door Review

A while ago I installed a Hakuna Extra Large Pet Door and at the time thought there was one significant flaw. The screws provided are quite long and need to be hacksawed back to the desired length. The problem I envisaged is what if I needed to remove the door for some reason, such as painting or some other reason. That problem was yesterday.

I'm a typical DIY person with no formal training, so that should probably be kept in mind. This review is for people like myself. Handy and happy to give things a go.

Installing the door wasn't as easy as it could be as the template was rather flimsy cardboard. That meant it moved easily and the tools I had for cutting weren't the greatest. The hole I cut as a result wasn't as good as it should have been, but it worked.

The plastic flap was warped and a bit of a disappointment. Not as straight as the picture would have you believe. The screws however were the biggest concern. I'd previously installed another pet door and the build of that pet door was such that no cutting of screws was required. It really was a good design. The Hakuna Extra Large Pet Door however, to me, is poorly designed as there should be no need to cut screwed to the correct length. Cutting screws with a hacksaw is quite hard work. The real problem with cutting screws however is you burr the threads and that means a potential issue should you need to remove the screws.

The issue that required the screws to be removed is the pet door was purchased for a pup that was going to grow into quite a large dog. Pups by their nature chew things and that plastic door was just too tempting for a pup. With about a third of the door flap chewed away a replacement flap was needed.

However before getting a replacement flap I felt it would be wise to see if I could remove the screws. Two gave little resistance, one gave a lot of resistance and one I didn't get out. You can't replace the door flap unless you can take the pet door apart. No point ordering a replacement flap until you know you can disassemble to pet door. So you're really stuck until you can get the screws out of the door.

I couldn't help feeling a tradesperson wouldn't waste their time on such a repair. Their time is more valuable. Just cutting out the old door and replacing it with a new pet door would be the way to go. But for a DIY person labour is a saving. A replacement door is $50 and the new pet door $169 with the potential of saving $119.

Whilst I haven't completed the repair of the Hakuna Extra Large Pet Door at this stage as  I needed to get another tool, I wanted to share my experience so far so people realise the issue they may have with the screws that are provided and the need to cut the screws. That's a lot of extra work during the installation and a potential problem down the track if the screws need to be removed.

Hakuna should perhaps consider providing a range of screws so no cutting is required. The extra cost would be minimal and really, at the price of the pet door, there should be a better approach. The large plastic flap was warped to start with which really wasn't good enough. Yes there's an additional cost for each set of screws, but that would turn this pet door into a "be mindful of potential issues" to an easier recommendation.

I hope others find this review useful. I'll provide an updated when the repair is completed.

Kelvin

Update 16 May 2021

Yesterday replaced the dog flap, which was ordered and cost $50. It's a fair bit of work removing the door and replacing it again, lining everything up. You need to completely remove the door to replace the flap.

With the new flap in place I noticed this one was not as warped and looked better. Success, or at least I thought so.

Today the door has again been chewed. One night and the door is damaged. Perhaps the next step is to work out a way to attach some old carpet to the flap once the door's been chewed. You can get around this situation by keeping the door cover in place but then you have to ask, what's the point of an expensive doggie door.

Update: 3 August 2021

Recently I had to reinstall the flap as the dog had somehow pulled the flap nearly all the way out of where it is attached.

Now this is where I have to say I was wrong about having to remove the door to replace the flap. The two screws can be accessed and the hinge opened, the flap replaced into the hinge and the screws inserted into the hinge and tightened. It's a bit frustrating and you really do need a second pair of hands to hold the flap.

Four speeding fines in quick succession at Red light/speed camera Rosanna Road and Darebin Street Heidelberg.

Yesterday I went to the Red light/speed camera located on the corner of Rosanna Road and Darebin Street in Heidelberg. My aim was to capture the flashes from the camera when cars are caught speeding. I'd previously done this but what amazed me is the flash does not always appear on the video.

On a previous trip I used a Samsung Gear 360 2017 camera that takes video at 24fps. Even though I counted at least 6-8 cars getting flashed, not a single flash was recorded on the video. It really is amazing what your eyes can see that doesn't get caught on the video. I suspect it's because the frame rate of the video is slow compared to the rapid speed of the flash. From what I've read a flash may be around three hundredths of a second whereas at 24fps the video is recording as just four hundredths of second, so it really may just be luck to capture the flashes.

What I did this time however was to say the word flash every time I saw a flash. I was lucky enough to get quite a few flashes on one video which I took at 60fps.

Usually what I notice with red light/speed cameras is cars travelling together are usually slowed down by the lead cars. That means all of the cars in the pack don't get fined. You can't go faster than the cars ahead. Most commonly what I see is a single car that is not restricted by other cars, is the one that goes faster and gets flashed.

In this case what I recorded wasn't what I expected. A group of cars all travelling over the limit were all flashed. Four in total. We often hear about people driving at the speed of the traffic around them and if the group is all travelling faster than the speed limit, then potentially they can all get booked by a speed camera and that is what appeared to happen in this case.

It really is a good lesson. Just because others are driving at a speed and everyone is driving at the same speed, don't assume you're driving at or below the speed limit. You are the only one who can keep an eye on your speed.

The Rosanna Road and Darebin Street intersection I believe is currently the top earning speed camera in Melbourne and it makes sense. Take a section of road, add a speed camera and reduce the speed from 60 to 40 and for some time, until people get used to the change, you'll get a large number of people breaking the law. Personally I don't think this section of road should be 40. You can drive 60km/h west to east at Burgundy Street but have to do 40 km/h driving south to north on Rosanna Road. There are residential houses as there are on many main streets. There aren't really shop fronts and pedestrian traffic is relatively low because even though there's shops in the area, there's not really shopfronts on Rosanna Road. There's a primary school on the corner of Rosanna Road and Darebin Street but no exit from the school anywhere near Rosanna Road. Perhaps it could be argued the road could have the standard school zone times because of the primary school. On the opposite corner there's a childcare centre, but all children going to and from the childcare centre will be supervised by parents. Unless people object to this speed limit and get the speed limit changed, people need to observe the rules put in place by the government.

For those interested in the video I created the video with the section showing the four cars getting flashed and then slow the video down so the flashes are more easily seen.

https://youtu.be/2DE56xRWKtY

Kelvin Eldridge
www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au

Four mobile speed cameras on Biggs Street, St Albans

In the following article a person took a video showing four mobile speed cameras located within 100 metres on Biggs Street, St Albans.

Motorist spots four unmarked speed cameras on Biggs Street in Melbourne, Victoria | Daily Mail Online

Reading the content of the article indicates they operators may have been undertaking training. One person said they've seen six mobile speed cameras at the location.

The following is the location shown on Google maps.

37°44'18.8"S 144°48'56.6"E - Google Maps

Kelvin Eldridge
www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au

The truth about speed cameras - an article from the Drive site

 I read the following article on the Drive site and thought it may be of interest to others.

The truth about speed cameras (drive.com.au)

Not sure I ever beleive anything fully I read as I find people aren't thorough, complete, sometimes restricted in what they can share, perhaps even have motives I'm blindly unaware of. However I did find some useful pieces of information and thought other might find it useful too.

The following are the couple of things I thought was interesting.

1. A handheld speed camera needs to be held steady or otherwise it can serverely affect the result. Now that's a real concern for drivers as drivers have no proof. That's one reason I have a dashcam in my car. I don't really have much faith so I need to have my own tools to confirm if I've broken the law or not. I wouldn't be happy to get fined, but if I break the law then in the end I have to accept it.

What proof is the driver provided that the camera did not move. Do handheld drives contain sensors that can prove the office hasn't moved the device and the device is in fact pointing at the desired object? I certainly don't know.

2. Speed detection equipment needs to be calibrated. For analogue roadside speed cameras  the legislation states they must have a margin for error of less than 3km/h or 3 per cent of a given speed. For digital devices such as handheld laser guns this drops to 2 km/h or 2 per cent.

That means the government is giving their agencies a margin for error, yet there's no margin of error given to drivers. Drivers should also be given a similar margin for error to be fair on all parties. Perhaps it means the giveronment can reduce costs by providing themselves with a margin for error.

 3. Highway patrol do not operate to a quota system

In find this interesting. When I've looked at government reports they have budgets. Government's budget for fines. It's in their budgets. If there's a budget for something that infers an expect target and thus an expected result. Call it a quota, call it a budget, call it a target. It's really just semantics. The end result is expected income for the government. Best not to get hung up on words.

4. Demerit points can be applied if you're booked interstate.

Interesting to know.

5. Police can let you off with a warning.

I think this is important for people to know. We all make mistakes. None of us are perfect. Each states (and possibly each officer) has a degree of discretion. It never hurts to ask for a review, you may be pleasantly surprised. I and others I know have been.

6. Good past behaviour can get you out of trouble.

It's interesting to see the different approaches available in other states where motorists can escape convction for minor offences.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au

Facebook reaction - News sites promoting their own apps which aren't needed.

The removal of news from Facebook has prompted a number of news media outlets to start promoting their own apps. It should be kept in mind you don't need to install an app to use these sites. Both News.com.au and ABC News are promoting their apps when people visit their websites.

There's no need for another app that may or may not be tracking your movements. You can simply bookmark the sites and visit the sites when you want. No app required. 

Whilst there's a big outcry with Facebook removing news content there is a bright side. If there's no news sites that means all news on Facebook can treated with suspicion. Right now people are getting tricked because they often can't tell the difference between real news, self promotion and scams. Now all articles can be treated the same and if you want to check the facts on something that interests you, you can visit a news site.

Kelvin Eldridge

Has removing signage in NSW for mobile speed cameras really made that much difference?

There has been quite a bit written in the press since the mobile speed cameras' signage has been removed in NSW, but the real question is, has it really made that much difference?

Whilst the press highlights the removal of mobile speed camera signage as the main point, there's two other points that are probably making most of the increase in speeding fines.

First the NSW's government has increased the number of hours for mobile speed cameras from 7,000 hours a  year to 21,000 hours a year. An increase by a factor of three.

Secondly, by removing the requirement for an mobile speed camera operator to place signage before and after the mobile speed camera car (which means the cameras only cover one side of the road), mobile speed cameras can now cover both sides of the road by doing nothing extra. That's an increase by a factor of two byt covering both sides of the road.

In total we have an increase in coverage based on increased hours and increasing coverage to cover both sides of the road, giving us an increase by a factor of six.

So how does that compare with the increase the government has seen in revenue?

Based on the figures released for December 2020, there's been a large increase to $2.5 million from $400,000 for the same period last year. Now if we increase $400,000 by a factor of six we end up with $2.4 million, or roughly what we'd expect to see based in increase coverage and increased hours. Overally the loss of signage appears to have made little difference.

Speeding fines in NSW skyrocket after warning signs for cameras removed (9news.com.au)

The reality is if you're not speeding your won't get booked. If you're observant whilst driving, the mobile speed camera cars generally stand out. They're generally parked in ways most people don't park, on a naturestip by themselves. Some do park in lanes on the road where there's parking, but most appear to park out of the way of traffic on naturestrips or kerbs. An observant driver will make sure they're not speeding. 

For me the one concerning piece of information is the NSW government stated the change will reduce the death toll by 34-43 a year. That means if increasing mobile speed camera coverage by a factor of six reduces the detoll by 34-43 a year, if we take one sixth (the current coverage) mobile speed cameras currently possibly make a difference of 5 - 7 deaths a year and fgiven the size of the death toll, that's quite a low impact in terms of saving lives on our roads given the size of the revenue being raised and speed to enforce speed limits. I can't help feeling a better way would be to provide every driver with a device that alerts them to when they're speeding. I know using Waze or AmiGo certainly helps me drive within the speed limit.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au

Melbourne Metrolpolitan Trains Lilydale line, buses replacing trains from Ringwood to Lilydale 9/2/21-19/2/21

There was a notice at the Mitcham train station today notifying passengers buses will replace trains between Ringwood Station and Lilydale station from the 9th of February to the 19th of February 2021.

With the new overhead bridges being built at Lilydale Station and Mooroolbark Station there's going to be some big channges. I decided to video the Ringwood to Lilydale section of the Lilydale line today and you can find the video at https://youtu.be/KmxXmnF9qqA. I've also taken a video from Lilydale to the city and return to Mitcham which I'll make available in the near future.

My aim is to link the videos into my Mapz site (www.Mapz.com.au/nearesttrainstation/) so people can easily get additional information on the train stations around them.

Kelvin Eldridge

Efficacy of the Pfizer/BioNTech, Oxford/AstraZeneca and Noravax.

I thought I'd link to the following article as it details the efficacy of the three vaccines currently considered for Australia.

Efficacy of the Pfizer/BioNTech, Oxford/AstraZeneca and Noravax

Kelvin Eldridge

Wasted time using PetrolSpy to get cheaper petrol.

The other day I worked out using PetrolSpy I was going past a cheaper petrol station and could save around 30 cents per litre. The detour was minimal so well worth the effort. Here's what PetrolSpy displayed.

However when I got to the 7 Eleven petrol station this is what I saw.

"Shop still open, fuel upgrade underway". As they say, "not happy Jan".

With PetrolSpy I've found a number of times the low priced petrol listed isn't correct so I like to have a second source to crosscheck the price. For example using the 7 Eleven Fuel app or the Woolworths Fuel app.

What was interesting is when I later checked the 7 Eleven website I found 7 Eleven had not updated the price of petrol for nearly two weeks. 

So 7 Eleven was feeding bad information to the PetrolSpy app and since the PetrolSpy app was updating the information regularly was just putting when PetrolSpy updated the information (in this case about an hour ago). So PetrolSpy gave the impression the price had recently been submitted making it more credible, whereas the information posted by PetrolSpy was recent, the information was nearly two weeks old. PetrolSpy should be vetting the data they receive more carefully.

One of the problems obtaining cheap petrol is the apps are only as good as the information provided. Sometimes the apps receive poor information from the petrol companies (such as this case), sometimes the apps are slow at getting the latest information (I've seen this at a Woolworths Petrol station where the price was lower than PetrolSpy and Woolworths own app) and my biggest concern is users providing misleading information either in error (E10 being listed as unleaded) or for some agenda that I'm not aware of. To get around these situations I usually find it best to have a couple of options. In this case I went a Woolworths Petrol station further along my route and saved around $9-$10. This doesn't seem like a lot of money for the effort, but I'm happy to save money when I can, as long as I don't waste money (fuel and other costs) doing so.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.PetrolCostCalculator.com.au

Maroondah Highway, Lilydale, red light camera/speed camera speed limit reduced from 50 km/h to 40 km/h

For those travelling on the Maroondah Highway through Lilydale it appears the speed limit has been changed from 50 km/h to 40 km/h due to the works on the railway line. This was reported in the HeraldSun (access to subscribers only) and I also found a Facebook post reporting the same information.

I decided to take a trip to Lilydale and took a picture of the 40 km/h sign. I saw one sign indicating the change of speed limit was related to the railway line works.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au

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

 

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

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

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

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