I only made it to your post reading this thread and had to reply..
Get your facts right..
Not sure about other states but in QLD every dollar raised from speed cameras goes towards the SRS (Safer Roads Sooner) funding for black spot road improvements..
So...
Do I think they are revenue raisers?
Hell yes..
But necessary.. Speed cameras work on being a fear campaign.. It gets drivers into a mindset that their could be one around the next corner..
So you check your speed..
Someone said speed doesn't kill?
Every km extra you are doing when when you hit a car/tree etc increases the severity of the accident probably to a factor of nearly two..
Every additional 20kmh you do can double your required reaction/braking distance for a hazard..
I don't agree with low range speeding fines (ie: up to 5kmh over).. However normal speeding fines and speed cameras are a necessary evil..
Oh and if you are stupid enough to get a speeding fine from a fixed location camera (especially in QLD where we have to warn you the camera is there by placing 2 signs in advance of it) you need to just hand over your keys because if you knew the camera was there and you still sped you are obviously too stupid to drive a car..
Thats all very well if you run off the road and hit a tree.. hit it at 100kmh and you are dead, hit it at 110kmh and you are twice as dead?
There are many circumstances that warrant allowing a higher speed limit. I dont advocate raising city limits, but on country roads and major highways fatigue kills, not speed. If you hit a tree asleep, it doesnt matter if you were doing 100 or 110, you still die.
I was raised in Darwin, with the glorious 'no speed limit' open roads we used to have up there. The three major factors that affected (and still affect) the road toll were fatigue, alcohol, and overloading. Fatigue being the biggest cause of accidents, and overloading skewed the statistics as well every time a troopy with 18 people on board crashed... something reasonably unique to the NT lol..
Interestingly, the NT resisted open road speed limits for many years, and eventually had no choice to impose them because the federal govt. blackmailed them by threatening to withhold road funding.
The road toll has not changed significantly at all since the imposition of these limits, because speed was never the problem !!!!
Fixed and well signed cameras in blackspots are fine in my view, although I prefer a point to point system rather than an instant speed system, and some intelligence used in the amount of cameras. In the Clem 7 tunnel in Brisbane there are 8 fixed cameras.. you can lose a clean open license from one end of the tunnel to the other, just by doing 83 in an 80 zone for the length of the tunnel.
Mobile car cameras are ok too, they have an operator who is able to judge road conditions, the condition of your car, your general driving behaviour etc, and most cops will use their judgement on whether to pick you up on a few kmh over the limit. Note of course I said most, there will always be the odd cowboy out there.
The portable roadside van cameras are a whole different story. Most of the roadside cameras parked in vans are not in 'black spots' they are in areas where its known that people will speed.. at the bottom of hills for instance. These are just revenue raising.
If they were serious about them stopping people from speeding they would paint them flouro orange and park them in very visible places.. but they dont, they park them as far off the road as they can, preferably hidden in the shade of a tree or something, and unlike fixed cameras, the signage is only visible as you pass them after they have already flashed you.
Thats not a deterrent, they are hiding because they want to catch you speeding.. not because they want to deter you.
A case in point...
My next door neighbour, when approaching intersections or school crossings etc, flashes his lights automatically as he approaches. He thinks it makes him more visible, and considers it a safety thing. He is over 70 lol.
He did this yesterday noon as he approached a school crossing (the school was closed but he didnt know that). There was a speed camera about 400m before the crossing, he saw it but wasnt speeding so thought nothing of it.
Within seconds of flashing his lights at nobody, a cop pulled out of where he had been parked in a driveway, and pulled the old feller up. He wrote him a ticket for 'using high beam in a built up area' (at noon !!) .. a euphemism for 'flashing your lights to warn other drivers of speed cameras', which is not actually illegal in this state (not sure about others).
Now, if its a safety issue and the camera is to make people slow down, it seems to me that the old feller was slowing people down (if in fact there had been anyone to warn in front of him) and the purpose of the exercise had been achieved. But no, in fact what he had done was potentially rob the govt of revenue, so he got a fine. Again, if anyone can tell me how in any way this old feller caused any safety issues by flashing his lights, I'd love to hear about it.
It wasnt so long ago I remember hearing about private contractors being employed to manage speed cameras. The footage on TV was laughable, they had 4 guys in one car watching cars go past and registering their speed. They didnt pull anyone over, just logged speeds with photos and times. They openly admitted that they had a target quota.
As has been stated earlier though, the original question was worded wrongly. Its not the police that make these policies, they just implement them as ordered.