Tolerance for fixed speed cameras and mobile speed cameras in Victoria

I often read people quoting there's a 10% tolerance before you'll get fined for speeding. This is a myth. The following is for the tolerance in fixed and mobile speed cameras which can be found in the following regulations document. The information here is for Victorians, but hopefully it also relates to the situation in other states.

https://content.legislation.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-06/19-88sra016-authorised.pdf

Division 3—Fixed digital road safety cameras 

35 Testing of fixed digital RSC

(b) is satisfied that the speed calculation unit is 
properly calibrated so that it indicates speed 
readings within a limit of error not greater 
than or less than 2 kilometres per hour or 
2 per cent (whichever is greater) of the true 
speeds.

Division 4—Mobile digital road safety cameras 

38 Testing of mobile digital RSC 

(b) is satisfied that the speed calculation unit is 
properly calibrated so that it indicates speed 
readings within a limit of error not greater 
than or less than 3 kilometres per hour or 
3 per cent (whichever is greater) of the true 
speeds. 

Division 5—Speed detectors

42 Testing of speed detectors 

(b) is satisfied that the device is properly 
calibrated so that it indicates the speed 
readings within a limit of error not greater or 
less than 2 km per hour of the true speeds.  

We need to keep in mind, this is the tolerance the government allows in their own equipment. If the government's equipment is accurate, then for a fixed camera that means we'd get a tolerance of 2 km/h for roads with a speed limit up to 100km/h, and 2% for roads above 100km/h.

However, if their equipment is not accurate, then their equipment could record you as going up to 2km/h (or 2% for roads above 100km/h) faster than you're actually going or record you as going slower than you're actually going.

What's important to note is the legislation is for their equipment, not your equipment or the speed you're going. 

For example, let's say the speed limit is 60km/h and you're travelling at 60km/h, but their equipment can read you as going anywhere between 58km/h to 62km/h.  Let's say you were actually doing 61km/h. The detected speed could be 63km/h and your alleged speed would then be 61km/h. In theory you could get fined for driving at 61km/h. I've read if you took this to court you could lose. Whilst at this stage I have no evidence for Victoria, I'd suspect the government would not take you to court for such a low infraction. It doesn't look good for the government and it could cause the community to lose faith in the system. Both outcomes the government wouldn't want. 

In terms of evidence for an additional tolerance however, we can see for South Australia, from the data they release for their SAPOL Expiations (think fines), for fixed and mobile speed cameras for a 60km/h speed zone, the alleged speed starts at 68km/h for fines. This indicates the South Australian government does have an additional tolerance and I suspect this would be true of other states as well. Although my instinct is that some states will have a tighter tolerance than SA. However, for speeding fines other than fixed or mobile speed cameras, (categorised as "other", which I suspect would be by police) the data does show the alleged speed can be as low as 64km/h.

Kelvin

Free Parking Melbourne

Free Parking Melbourne: Free Parking Melbourne has now been added to the Mapz site.

I had an idea a while ago and wondered if there was much street parking riding distance from the Melbourne CBD. Turns out there is. Recently I drove my car to Port Melbourne and then rode my escooter to South Bank to meet a friend for lunch.

Whilst the roads can be a bit scary, it doesn't take long to reach the bike paths where it's a pleasant and safer ride. Good to get out in the beautiful weather.

I'll share the drive and escooter ride on my YouTube channels in the near future.

Drives

360 4K videos

Kelvin

Liter to Gallon / Litre to Gallon Calculator - Australia, United States, United Kingdom, Liters to Gallons, Litres to Gallons

Liter to Gallon / Litre to Gallon Calculator - Australia, United States, United Kingdom, Liters to Gallons, Litres to Gallons has now been added to the Gallon to Liter Calculator.

4K dashcam video of 17 new red light speed cameras around Melbourne

The Victorian government has installed over 30 new red light speed cameras around Melbourne over the past 18 months or so. In this video are 17 of the new red light speed cameras.

Melbourne Driving Tour - City of Melbourne and the Docklands - YouTube

To make it easier to go to a particular section of the Melbourne Driving Tour, I've now added Chapters.

Melbourne Driving Tour - City of Melbourne and the Docklands - YouTube

To see and go to a chapter move the mouse over the video to see the timeline, then move over the timeline to get to the section that interests you. You can also go to the description for the video and click on any of the timestamps.

When your viewers are on YouTube first appeared today (previously Not enough viewer data to show this report).

Various things happen on YouTube once some unknown point is reached. In YouTube there's a graph like the following, which shows when your viewers are on YouTube.

Until yesterday all I had in this section was a message that I think was "Not enough viewer data to show this report". The above graph appeared today (3rd January 2024) for the first time and I wanted to share my statistics in case it helps other determine when this might happen for them.

I started my 360 4K video channel on the 4th of October 2023, which is 91 days ago.

Since starting the channel my stats for the period 4 Oct 2023 to 1 Jan 23 are:

Views: 79,608 (Shorts: 75,425, Videos: 4,191)
Watch time: 367.0 hours
Subscribers: 117

The difference between the individual figures in brackets is because they are until the 3rd of January, whereas the other figures are for the period up until two days ago, the 1st of January 2024.

Looking at the last 48 hours of views there's only one hour where there were no views.

It may be the graph appears after 90 days, but I think this is unlikely, although I can't be sure. If you hover your mouse over the different shaded bars on the graph you get further information which states: "Very few of your viewers are on YouTube", "Few of your viewers are on YouTube", "Some of your viewers are on YouTube", "Many of your viewers are on YouTube" and "Very many of your viewers are on YouTube".

There is no "None of your viewers are on YouTube" at a particular hour, which I find interesting. If I were to guess, it may be this graph only appears once there are one or more viewers in each hourly bucket for the 24 hours for the 7 days. Keep in mind this graph is for the most recent 28 day period, so each hour on each day is the sum of 4 days from each of the weeks.

I don't know why or when the "When your viewers are on YouTube" graph appears, but hopefully by sharing my information it will provide clues to others should a pattern appear.

I should add my first channel is very different from my 360 4K channel as to when viewers are on YouTube. The main reason I think is when I started my first channel it is based on content largely from Australia and published based on the time in Australia. Currently 70% of my viewers are from Australia. For my 360 4K channel which this graph is from, the content started based on a recent trip to Europe and the viewers came mostly from Europe. I've focused on using Shorts to build the audience and currently the top viewers for All Viewers come from Russia, United States, India, Germany, Uzbekistan, whereas if just looking at long form video the top viewers are from: Fance, India, Australia, Brazil, Italy. Sometimes I wonder if the graph is for all viewers, or just long form videos. Again, I don't know the answer, but I thought I'd put the thought out there.

Kelvin

My first channel
Ride, Drive, Walk by Kelvin

My 360 4K channel
360 4K UHD videos

Victoria Container Deposit Scheme, Vic Container Deposit Scheme

Victoria Container Deposit Scheme, Vic Container Deposit Scheme is now live so I've produced a map showing the location of container collection points. Most of the collection points around me are OTC (Over The Counter) collection points. A local milk bar for example. It will be interesting to ask them a few questions such as, how many containers are considerable a reasonable number for OTC returns.

I'm looking forward to trying out one of the automatic vending machines, but unfortunately, they're location too far away.

It's important to keep in mind making a special trip to even your closest collection point may not be viable for dropping off a smaller number of contains. For example, our nearest collection point is a 5km return trip, which is over a dollar of petrol usage at current prices. That's 10 containers before you start getting your money back.

Another thing to note is vending machine don't give you cash, whereas OTC points cash is an option.

I hope others find the map and the above information useful.

Kelvin

Contrary to recent media reports, Queensland is not fining drivers speeding close to speed sign zone changes.

I recently read people in Queensland were now getting fined when speeding very close to the speed signs when the speed limit zone changes. This concerned me as it appeared to be an easy way to increase revenue. Yes, people shouldn't speed. Being a good driver also means obeying the road laws. None of us obey the letter of the law, all the time. I decided to do some research.

After finding a few articles with photos showing the same location, things didn't make sense to me. The road markings did not match where the speed signs were located. The following is the article on Yahoo News, but I think I also saw headline from the Courier Mail.

Aussie driver caught twice by 'sneaky' placement of speed camera on highway (yahoo.com)

It turns out the driver was mistaken (along with many others), who believed the sign in their picture was a speed limit sign. It isn't a speed limit sign. It is an informational sign for a camping area and the road name.

The following video is from my travels and starts just before the sign shown in the speeding fines and then continues on to the speed limit change, about 220m further on. 

Driving Queensland, Agnes Water to Gladstone - Tour #3 - YouTube

People are speeding up before reaching the sign and from the other direction, not slowing down to the speed limit as they reach the sign. This is normal driving behaviour, but it isn't legal behaviour. You have to at or below the signed speed limit for the section of road you are travelling on. If you're approaching a 60km/h sign from a faster section of road, you need to be at or below 60km/h when you reach the sign. If you're approaching a 100km/h sign from a lower speed limit zone, you can't speed up before you reach the speed limit sign. Not what we all do, but something we should be doing.

So in this case the media reports are based on incorrect information, and unfortunately, lack of fact checking.

Kelvin
www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au

Edinburgh, Scotland, High Street to Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh, Scotland, High Street, The Royal Mile

Edinburgh, Scotland, High Street

Edinburgh, Scotland, Victoria Street, Diagon Alley

Edinburgh, Scotland, Grassmarket Market Square

Aldimobile Auto Recharge leaves users open to bill shock.

In February I moved to Aldimobile. Overall it's been a good service, but then recently something unexpected happened.

It was after midnight and I received an SMS, "Hi, Your ALDImobile PAYG credit is fully depleted. Please go online or use your mobile app to recharge."

My first reaction was to go and top up the account.

My next reaction was what the? I'm on Auto Recharge. Shouldn't I be covered?

Turns out at the end of the month the Auto Recharge can take up to a day to be applied. So for hours and up to a day, anything you use is taken out of your PAYG balance. Luckily there was only a $4.88 balance which was cleared out by Aldimobile. Never knew where that 12 cents went, but my guess now is data use during the time Auto Recharge hadn't been applied in the past. A second service also had money taken out.

To me the worst-case scenario is you have a large PAYG balance and you're watching a movie online and your balance is cleared out.

Of course, all of this can be found online, as long as you make the effort to read further than the first screens. ALDImobile also states "No bill shock", but isn't an unexpected and an unknown amount being charged what bill shock is?

I didn't know ALDImobile's Auto Recharge meant you weren't fully covered with your monthly payment. Perhaps others don't know as well, which is why I'm sharing this story.

I don't think ALDImobile's Auto Recharge is good enough and as a result, have moved to another provider so this is not an issue.

Kelvin

Use Bookmarklets to add new features to Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome

Bookmarklets are a very powerful feature available to add to you Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome (plus others) browsers to add new and convenient features.

Bookmarklets - JustLocal.

For example I add features to my browser to check the spelling of a word, the entire web page, and more recently, to speed up YouTube videos.

I share the bookmarklets on the above web page in case they're of interest to others.

Kelvin

VicRoads Bundoora, Practical Driving Test #10 with audio guide

Enjoyed creating the VicRoads Bundoora, Practical Driving Test #10 with audio guide. You'll hear the audio guide providing the turn-by-turn instructions.

Kelvin

Anaconda eBike Ride, Box Hill to Templestowe following Google maps directions

Pleasant ride on the Anaconda ebike from Box Hill to Templestowe.

Kelvin

VicRoads Heatherton Practical Driving Test #8

VicRoads Heatherton, Practical Driving Test #8.

Video includes explanation of www.PracticalDrivingTest.com.au site and includes an animation for the practical driving test route provided by a driver instructor and also a video using the audio guide with myself completing the practical driving test.

Keeping you home phone number (landline without the landline) using CrazyTel.

A lot of people including ourselves use mobiles for all their calls so no longer need the landline, except in our case we wanted to keep the landline number. A couple of years ago I got rid of the landline and had the home phone number ported to Vodafone since we had a Vodafone mobile service. To find out more about this service search for Vodafone mobile landline. It's actually worked quite well and costs $5 a month.

More recently I've wanted to move the landline number away from Vodafone because I'm moving away from Vodafone. With a bit of searching, I found a company called CrazyTel, where you can port your landline number to them and have any calls forwarded to voicemail and then for the recording to be automatically forward to an email address. I don't want to use the landline, but I do want to catch any calls from people who may not know our mobile numbers. I don't want or need to make calls out. I don't want to set up an answering machine at home and get annoying calls day and night from scammers. So, to have all calls go to voicemail and the recording forwarded to email suits me perfectly.

The good thing about CrazyTel is it only costs $1 a month to have CrazyTel host your landline number and forward voicemail to your email. 

So how did it go?

Well to be truthful, as an IT person with considerable experience, I couldn't get it to work at first. However today when I went back to finish the set up everything worked. Go figure.

I ported the landline number from Vodafone to CrazyTel on the 18th of January 2023. I received notification from CrazyTel on the 27th of January the port had been completed.

At this point I tried to set up the voicemail for my landline number, but I couldn't complete a field. Not sure why. However today (the 1st of February) I logged back on the CrazyTel website. My landline number was there, the voicemail had been set up. All I then did was to go into my number and selected Voicemail as the Type of Forwarding my email as the Forwarding Destination.

I completed a couple of test calls. The voice quality isn't great, but it will do. The options a person hears when recording a message is confusing at first. You get a message to record your message and then options to listen to, save or redo the message. It's actually not bad once you realise if you've made a mistake in the message, you can redo the message. Once saved you get two options. You're told to end by pressing the pound key. Confusing as the # key is called the hash key, number symbol or pound symbol. Also, the sound quality isn't the best so it can be hard to make out what key is mentioned, but you can listen to the options again. Quality is average but it's good enough for my needs.

Now that everything is set up and working, at this point I'm quite happy. I have my landline number still and it only costs $1 a month. CrazyTel even give you a $2 credit when you sign up so there's no risk and you effectively get two months free. Keep in mind this is using your existing number. If you want a new number that's an extra $1 per month.

If you're comfortable with technology then you should be able to nut through the process, otherwise it could be a bit overwhelming.

Hopefully by sharing my experience it will help others in the same situation.

Kelvin

Update: 01/02/2023
Left a message from a mobile using Aldi's mobile service and the voice quality was excellent. The poor-quality call was from a Vodafone service. In other words, the call quality on the CrazyTel service may not be due to CrazyTel's service, but outside their control.

Practical Driving Test VicRoads Frankston

Practical Driving Test VicRoads Frankston is the seventh practical driving test route video.

Kelvin