Some interesting figures on the cost of COVID-19 testing in Victoria.

An interesting article came out recently where pathology practices were lobbying the government to maintain the current charge of $85 per COVID-19 test.

Australia COVID: Pathologists lobby Canberra for massive COVID test subsidy to continue (smh.com.au)

If we look at today's figures for Victoria we see the following.

Number of tests to date: 13,777,569

Number of positive COVID-19 cases to date: 98,130

Coronavirus update for Victoria – 8 November 2021 | health.vic.gov.au

At $85 per COVID-19 test that could equate to a potential cost of  $1.17 billion. I say potential because according to the article only public labs only get half the rebate.

Another interesting figure is the number of positive cases compared to the total number of tests. One case per 140 tests. Again this figure doesn't take into account if a person is positive they'd need multiple tests.

I have to say I'm quite surprised the number of tests per positive case is much lower than I would have thought at 0.7%. Personally the scatter gun approach to testing I would have thought would have been much less efficient. Detecting one positive case for around 140 test to me is an excellent result. Of course that's just my unscientific personal opinion.

It will be interesting to see how the costs change over time with rapid antigen tests now becoming available at a much lower cost. Whilst not as accurate as PCR testing, the "new era of living with COVID-19" no longer requires us to eradicate the virus, just to reduce the spread. Anything that reduces the spread would appear to be worthwhile and if required, could be followed up with a PCR test. Overall this could reduce the need for as many PCR tests and thus the cost to the government and us as a community.

What is a rapid antigen test? Where can you buy them in Australia and how much do they cost? - ABC News

A quick check of the web finds test kits out of stock at Woolworths, but available for a pack of 5 from Chemist Warehouse online only. At about $10 per test, getting a pack for a family or a group of families just in case, may not be a bad idea. For larger organisation buying in bulk would expect to halve or better this price. Whilst less convenient, getting tested at a drive-through centre is still cheaper since it's bulk billed and we never directly see the actual cost.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the $85 COVID-19 test subsidy when it's up for review at the end of the year. A rapid antigen test for under $5 in bulk or an $85 PCR test is certainly going to be tempting for the government to consider.

Kelvin

NOTE: Nothing in this article should be taken as advice in any shape or form. I am simply sharing my observations and am not qualified in any medical capacity.

When should you get your second dose of AstraZenica? (NOTE: This is not medical advice.)

The question as to when you should get your second dose of AstraZenica is often discussed with family and friends. I couldn't help feeling the shorter time of 6 weeks reduced from 12 weeks may have been more to meet government targets than the health needs of people. Having said that, in areas where there was substantial risk the shorter period could well have been warranted. The level of risk across Australia is not the same but unfortunately the messages we may be receiving from the mainstream news media does not differentiate the level of risk.

Ultimately each of us has to take responsibility for our own health choices. With so much information, misinformation, and sometime questionable information, it can be very hard to make better choices. Sometimes pressure from those around us will lead us to make  choices that may not be in our best health interests.

I keep a close watch on the level of risk around me so if possible my choice is to see if I can wait 12 weeks for the second dose of AstraZenica. Why? Because in theory this should give me a greater level of protection based on the efficacy research. I don't consider this to be a perfect choice, just a potentially better choice.

A second and potentially more important point comes from the reference linked to from the document linked below which states:

"Yet we do know two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine protects against serious COVID-19 after infection with the Delta variant, whereas one dose doesn’t."

The link provided then leads to the research article which states:

"Sera from individuals who had received one dose of the Pfizer or the AstraZeneca vaccine had a barely discernible inhibitory effect on the Delta variant. Administration of two doses of the vaccine generated a neutralizing response in 95% of individuals, with titres three- to fivefold lower against the Delta variant than against the Alpha variant. "

This to me is more of a concern. Children are now back at school and in childcare centres. Borders are starting to open up. The risk of catching COVID-19 would appear to be rapidly increasing. Increased efficacy is good, but not if a single dose doesn't protect you against serious COVID-19 infection. That is the quandary we're all faced with.

Please keep in mind I have no medical background. Do not take the information provided as advice or guidance. This is just my own personal choice.

To help guide my choice I've read a considerable amount of information on the internet so I decided to find an article I felt could summarise the efficacy information. The following is from doctors in Erina NSW who summarise the information well and provide supporting links. I've not yet found the actual information in the Lancet, but it does correspond with other information I've found.

WHEN SHOULD I HAVE MY 2ND ASTRAZENECA VACCINE? – Your Family Doctors

The linked article is quite good to read as it concludes that even if getting the AstraZenica second dose early may be sub-optimal, if this is followed up by a later Pfizer dose this will further boost immunity.

One missing piece of information I've not yet found is that whilst we know the booster is needed for Pfizer as protection diminishes over time, I've not seen evidence this is the case for AstraZenica. I feel the government will recommend a Pfizer booster as it is a simpler message, but is it needed if you've waited the full 12 weeks for a second dose of AstraZenica. Only time and further research will tell.

I hope the information provided helps in some way.

Kelvin

Takata airbags class actions – Notice of Proposed Settlement, is it a scam?

I received a message from a contact recently asking if the email they'd received was a scam or not. Their first thought is it may be a scam.

The subject of the email was "Takata airbags class actions – Notice of Proposed Settlement".

Looking at the links in the email and checking any of the links (Toyota Australia Class Action (nsw.gov.au), Takata Airbag Class Actions - Home) using a malware scanner site everything appeared to be in order. It does look like this is a court ordered email.

I decided to check out the class action information, but do keep in mind I have no legal background. This was just out of interest.

First checking the cars listed it, whilst this person's partner owns a Mazda (they personally do not own a Mazda) and secondly the Mazda in question does not fall into the date range listed. So it does appear the email list "Notice of Proposed Settlement" was possibly quite broad and may not be relevant to many people.

In the past I've felt the individuals who register for such a settlement are likely to end up getting very little, so I wondered if it was possible to estimate what each person might get.

Reading the documents provided the settlement appears to cover 2 million vehicles. The total settlement is for $52 million and the two groups mentioned in points 4a and 4b would potentially receive $13 million and $15.3 million respectively. This would leave $23.7 million  less possible other amounts.

Assuming the full $23.7 million was then equally allocated to the 2 million individuals owning the vehicles, that would amount to $11.85.

Is this a scam, probably not. Is it worth it for potentially $11.85? Probably not.

Kelvin

NOTE: This email should not be considered advice in any shape or form. Any action you choose take is entirely your own choice and entirely at your own risk.

How many weeks until Christmas?

Some time ago I wrote a Days between Dates calculator and then recently someone asked me how many weeks until Christmas. The Days between Dates calculator already has a convenient option to work out the number of days until Christmas, but it's very common for people to ask for the number of weeks.

I decided to add the number of weeks between dates to the Days between Dates calculator since it was a fairly easy task. Now when someone asks me how many weeks until Christmas, I can tell them the number of weeks and days until Christmas.

You can find the Days between Dates calculator at https://www.daysbetweendates.com.au/.

Enjoy

Kelvin

Titbits on COVID-19 I find interesting and useful

The Victorian government has a lot of interesting and useful information but unfortunately most of the time we don't have access to that information. However, sometimes some of that information gets published and if we're lucky we got to read it. The aim of this post is to collect what I feel to be useful titbits of information.

"According to the Victorian government, 45 per cent of all household primary close contacts test positive even when fully vaccinated"
Covid-19 Victoria: Isolation for fully vaccinated close contacts reduced to 7 days | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

"Within yesterday’s cases, there are 1245 newly impacted households which previously did not have COVID-19 present." - There were 2,297 cases.
Department of Health and Human Services Victoria | Coronavirus update for Victoria - 14 October 2021 (dhhs.vic.gov.au)

"almost 90 per cent of people infected with the Delta variant turn positive by day seven"
Covid-19 Victoria: Isolation for fully vaccinated close contacts reduced to 7 days | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

For me this information is very useful as it helps me to get an idea of the level of COVID-19 around me and thus the risk of exposure. From the above we can estimate:

1. Around half the cases are in new households.

2. Around half the cases will occur within a household when someone is already infected.

3. We know those who are a household where someone's already infected they could perhaps already be quarantine so present little risk to the community.

4. The new case for a household may have only been in the community for a short period of time whilst infected.

5. What is missing but may be interesting to know is how many of the new infections for a new household is a direct contact or an existing infected person. The reason is if they're a direct contact they may have already been in quarantine when they test positive so also a lower risk to the community.

By using the Victorian government's COVID-19 data by postcode I collate the data so I can see how the data is changing over the last seven days (Victoria COVID-19 Cases By Postcode (onlineconnections.com.au).

Using the information about I can make rather loose assumptions that for each household where there's a new case there will be an additional case that occurs. Thus I can halve the number of cases in an area as they'll be in the same household. In addition, once the first person is found to be infected, that person plus the entire household will need to be in quarantine. Thus the second infected person (or half the cases) may generally not be a risk to the community.

By shopping, socialising and exercising in areas with low numbers of COVID-19 infections I am hopeful I can reduce my level of risk when I'm not at home. At this point in time I work from home and no longer go out to clients. I only go out a couple of times a week to shop, socialise or exercise so my movements  and contact with others is fairly limited so hopefully my risk is limited. 

However I do accept the risk will increase as the Victorian government has failed to suppress COVID-19 in the community, so will now open up the community on the basis that being vaccinated will reduce the risk of severe infection by a factor of 2-5 for Astrazenica and 5-10 for Pfizer and this shouldn't overwhelm our health system.
Living Evidence - COVID-19 vaccines | Agency for Clinical Innovation (nsw.gov.au)

As I find more useful titbits I hope to add them to this post.

Kelvin

Update: 19 October 2021
The Victorian government has stopped publishing tier 2 sites and in fact even before doing this did not include sites people had told me about. In essence leaving us blind as to the level of exposure in our community. Since shopping is something we all do most weeks, if not more often, it's good to see Coles and Woolworths still publishing COVID-19 exposure sites for customers.

COVID-19 updates | Coles

COVID-19 store updates and latest news | Woolworths Group COVIDSafe

Aldi also have a page which looks to be up to date, but in the past I've found their page not always as good as it could be. Hopefully they've improved since last year. To be fair to Aldi, every recent exposure site I could find in the media is listed on the page. Aldi's layout is different as cases are listed together for each site. What is also good from a risk point of view is each shop generally has very few cases.
Customer Notices: COVID-19 Cases - ALDI Australia

"Covid-19 has a mortality rate of 1.06 per cent in Australia"
I do think it's poor that Greg Hunt didn't quantify the mortality rate for double vaccinated.
Greg Hunt reveals the likelihood of catching Covid-19 if you’re fully vaccinated | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

Figures from the UK give us a better idea of the mortality rate for those double vaccinated. Out of 51,281 deaths during the period given there were 256 breakthrough deaths. Breakthrough deaths are those who had been double vaccinated and infected 14 days after second dose of vaccine. That's roughly 1 in 200. There were 2,159,287 cases during the nominated period which is a death rate of 2.37% overall and 0.012% for double vaccinated. It should also be kept in mind double vaccination rates went from less than 1% on the 2nd of January to 49.7% on the 2nd of July. Using a very rough average of 25% of the UK population double vaccinated this could possibly mean numbers could increase by a factor of 4 if the UK population was fully vaccinated. As figures are updated a better picture of the mortality rate for double vaccinated will become more apparent.
Deaths involving COVID-19 by vaccination status, England - Office for National Statistics
Cases in the UK | Coronavirus in the UK (data.gov.uk)
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccinations - Statistics and Research - Our World in Data

Update: 14/11/2021
I was thinking about hospitalisation rates for those who get infected and thought the following was an interesting summary showing relative likelihood of being hospitalised based on age.
Risk for COVID-19 Infection, Hospitalization, and Death By Age Group | CDC

Update: 23/11/2021
Nick Coates, the earlier face of COVID-19, advises against vaccine mandates for under 12s.
Nick Coatsworth advises against Covid vaccine mandates for under 12s | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

Update: 23/11/2021
Peak viral loads for vaccinated and unvaccinated similar but faster decline for vaccinated.
Community transmission and viral load kinetics of the SARS-CoV-2 delta (B.1.617.2) variant in vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals in the UK: a prospective, longitudinal, cohort study - The Lancet Infectious Diseases

Victoria COVID-19 cases by postcode - finding safer postcodes to shop, socialise and exercise.

The Victorian government is reducing the amount of information available to help us keep safe in the current epidemic. This is a pity as the more informed we have access to the more we can look after our own health.

Each day the Victorian government posts the COVID-19 cases by postcode and LGA, but if you want to look at yesterdays data you can't, it's gone. That makes it hard to get an idea of what's happening over time.

Is the situation in your postcode and the surrounding postcodes getting better or worse? With the information presented by the Victorian government you don't know.

To the Victorian government's credit they do however make the data available for download and since you can download the data you can create whatever application you want using the data.

I decided I needed a better tool to help myself, family and friends.

What I wanted was to be able to easily see information for my postcode and the postcodes around me.

What I also wanted was to be able to see the number of new cases for each day for the last seven days.

By having the last seven days of data I get two things.

1. The ability to see if the situation is getting better or worse.

2. The ability to see which postcodes around me have less cases and thus potentially lower risk.

I should add the data provided by the Victorian government is for where people live, not where they acquired COVID-19. I figure most people probably don't realise they've caught COVID-19 until they develop symptoms, or others they know are diagnosed and they need to isolate. Before isolating however they may have been out in their local community for a couple of days whilst infectious.

Once a person is diagnosed with COVID-19 they're quarantined so really I consider the first few days were people are COVID-19 positive but still out in the community the highest risk. These people work and that often isn't in their local community, but when they're at home, they could be out shopping, socialising or exercising, and it's then there's a risk to others when they're out in the local community.

Low case numbers in an area reduces the chances of being exposed and anything that can reduce our risk of exposure I consider a good thing. By shopping, socialising and exercising in areas with low COVID-19 cases numbers gives me a feeling I might be reducing my risk to COVID-19. It might make no difference but at least I feel like I'm doing something positive to reduce the risk.

The web page I've written for Victorian - COVID-19 cases by postcode can be found at Victoria COVID-19 Cases By Postcode (onlineconnections.com.au).

I live in Templestowe which has the postcode of 3106. A suburb near me is Eltham (postcode 2095) but unfortunately it isn't included in the nearest 10 results because the postcode also includes a number of other suburbs and when the centre of all the suburbs is taken into account, the postcode is further away than other suburbs. That means I need to check the results for Eltham separately, or what I've done, is to replace the last postcode with the 3095 postcode.

By selecting the option to find the 10 nearest postcodes I get the following results.

Looking at the data provided there's a couple of things we can easily see.

1. The postcode 3111 (Donvale) has the lowest numbers. Perhaps a good place to socialise or exercise. There's no shopping facilities in 3111.

2. Postcodes 3093 and 3094 have low numbers. There's a good shopping strip with Aldi and also areas to socialise or exercise.

3. Compared with other areas around Melbourne even the worst area of Doncaster still isn't too bad.

4. Most areas are trending down except for 3106 and 3095.

5. Postcode 3105 has a Coles so that's looking like the best area if shopping at Coles.

6. We normally shop at 3108 (Doncaster), 3109 (Doncaster East) or 3095 (Eltham) but really this should be reconsidered due to the higher case numbers.

Whilst the Victorian government doesn't give me the information I'd really like, all hotspots and businesses where people have been exposed, information on whether exposed at work or home, at least some data is available I can use and that's appreciated.

Hopefully the site can help you as well.

Kelvin

Scanning QR code at Sandown Racecourse vaccination centre didn't work. Who designs these things!

I can't imagine how many millions are being spent on Victoria's QR code system yet so many times it fails. Good people are trying to do the right thing but whatever the Victorian government is doing just doesn't work consistently. It's not the QR code technology, it's not the people, it's not the mobile phones, it's the people developing the systems that need to improve what they're doing and the government shouldn't tolerate a system that fails so often.

Recently I've had QR code failures at the Bank of Queensland in Croydon, Officeworks in Doncaster and more recently and much to my surprise, when I went to check in to get my Astrazenica shot at the Sandown Racecourse vaccination hub. Yes I was checked in by one the staff, but really this shouldn't have been necessary.

When sharing my story I asked two other people to show me what they see when they go to check in. This is what they saw and I've also seen this screen.

I just shake my head when I see a screen like this. It tells people nothing about what they need to do.

I've seen people take pictures of QR codes thinking they've checked in.

I've seen people who get this screen who think they've checked in.

I've seen people who don't realise they need to click on the Check-in button to complete the check in.

The government should review the check-ins for the day I was at Sandown Racecourse and audit the number of valid check-ins against the number of people attending on the day. Then at least they might be able to see how often their QR code system is failing. Yes you can manually check-in, but who does that.

The system needs to be very simple. Very consistent. Screens like the above should never appear. The QR code system should rarely fail, but for me it's failed many times, so the QR code system I suspect is failing for many others.

Given the probably millions being spent it really isn't good enough.

If I were to make one suggestion it would be for the Victorian government to provide a sample QR code I and other IT people could use the train people. The sample QR code could then store the person's information ready for when they use a live QR code. The sample QR code does not need to store anything. People could then use the sample QR code to make sure they're doing the right thing.

Kelvin

Easier way for Victorians to find out about new public exposure locations around them.

I was finding it hard to keep up with the public exposure locations for coronavirus in Victoria. There's roughly a thousand hotspot (public exposure locations) so checking them each day or every few days can be a bit overwhelming.

I decided to write a web page where I could put in my postcode and up to 10 postcodes around me. That would allow me to see those postcodes that were of interest to me rather than a list with just one postcode, or the entire list. I then decide to extend the page with a quick fill feature which finds the 10 postcodes around your current location.

Having done that I add the result page to my Home screen on my mobile and can quickly check if there's any new public exposure locations around me. Even better family and friends can do the same.

IF anyone is interested in a neat tool that can help find out about Victorian public exposure locations you can find it at the following location.

Victoria Exposure Sites (onlineconnections.com.au)

Kelvin

New features added to the 5km Radius site. 10km radius and Bike Trails.

Two new features have been added to the 5km Radius website.

• 10km radius
• Bike Trails

10km Radius

In both Victoria and NSW there has been 10km radius restrictions. In case the 10km radius restriction occurs again this has been added to the 5km Radius site. In NSW at one point there was both a 5km radius restriction and a 10km radius restriction so we need to be prepared.

Bike Trails

It can be hard to find things to do when you're in lockdown and restricted to a 5km radius. One activity I do is to go for a bike ride but in doing so I need to keep in mind I'm still restricted to 5km.

The Bike Trails map shows the bike trails around your area. A 5km ride doesn't sound like much but with a bit of creative thinking I've manager to create a number of 5km circuits in my area and you can see those rides as I add them to YouTube. I can tell you I've come back quite exhausted from the 5km circuits and I've not even been doing more than half the 5km radius area. Keep in mind if you could ride around the circumference of a 5km radius area that would be close to 31km. Throw in some hills and slow section you may even find it hard to complete in the time allowed.

Kelvin
www.5kmRadius.com.au

The 5km radius website unfortunately is exceeding the daily quota at times.

I wrote the 5km radius website to help family and friends. I made it available to the public in case it also helps others.

Unfortunately I didn't anticipate the level of traffic to the site with both Victoria and NSW in lockdown at the same time, with the same 5km radius limit. This higher than expected usage has caused all my mapping sites to stop working so I've had to try to find a way to keep my other sites working as well as the 5km radius site.

For this reason the 5km radius site now uses a separate mapping service which has a quota, but should at least enable many people to use the site before the quota is reached. This will literally be many thousands of people a day. I apologise to those who miss out on the day but please be aware the quota resets each day.

Thank you for visiting my site. Again my apologies for anyone who misses out. I simply cannot afford to fund the site above the quota provided as I have limited income at this time.

Kelvin

Update: 24 Aug 2021
Recent changes I've implemented appear to be working so for most weekdays the quota may not be reached. Weekends tend to peak higher so quota limits may still kick in at night on weekends. If that happens try again the next morning.

Interesting article on rates of serious coronavirus infections for vaccinated and unvaccinated.

I like to keep links to interesting articles which share what I consider to be useful information. In the following article the number of serious cases of coronavirus for vaccinated and unvaccinated people is provided.

Delta strain: Israel records spike in hospitalisations, deaths despite 78 per cent vaccination rate, Pfizer booster shots (news.com.au)

The important figures are:

For over 60 the number of serious cases is 178 per 100,000 unvaccinated people. For vaccinated people over 60 this figures is reduced to one ninth. I suspect this means approximately 20 per 100,000 serious cases for vaccinated people over 60.

For unvaccinated people under 60 the number of serious cases is 3.2 per 100,000 people.  This was a little more than double those people who had been vaccinated. I suspect this means around 1.6 people per 100,000 for vaccinated people under 60.

It would be interesting to see these age groups broken down further to see the rates per 100,000 people.

Kelvin

Pleased to see 5kmradius.com.au on News.com.au site today.

There's quite a bit of work involved in building and maintaining websites so today it was very pleasing to see people mentioning 5kmradius.com.au and the site appearing on the news.com.au site.

Northern Beaches Narrabeen locals discuss Sydney Covid travel restrictions (news.com.au)

Kelvin Eldridge
www.5kmRadius.com.au

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