I was driving home at 8.30pm last night and drove out of out town. The road changes from 70 - 90 - 110 over about 1km. The road was pitch black, it was bush land either side and there was no other traffic on the road. Suddenly there was a massive blinding flash of light on my right which shocked me and caused me to swerve onto the other side of the rooad, it was a speed camera! I was doing 75km in the 70 zone - so fair enough they got me, but surely it is illegal for them to use them at night in such a situation as that, it was lucky there was no-one coming in the other direction

Was the camera facing you??? for it to be on your right hand side?
Gary

Don't know my left from my right , it was on my left, facing me and flashed at the front of the car, it was blinding.

Yikes! They flash you from the front over there?

When performing speed camera operations, Speed Camera Operators:
must ensure the safety of pedestrians and ensure vehicular traffic is not impeded with the placement of the Speed Camera Unit.

On those grounds, and from what you have said, it would appear you have grounds to have this one revoked.

The operation of the camera was not safe.

Yep. The also hide in bushes and jump out with the laser guns. It's all about entrapment and revenue raising in Oz. Speed cameras are also hidden.

That's disgusting. I wouldn't want to see some overweight copper's hairy body.

Globally most of them are. In South Africa they position themselves in a layby further up the road and celebrate their windfalls with a barbeque.

When I was in the cop shop, one of the tricks the coppers used was pointing the radar gun at a stationary object (such as a tree on the side of the road) and then accelerating to a speed over the limit. They would then pull over a car (any car will do) and show the driver the false reading and issue them with a ticket.

I'll give you a tip about speed cameras. Obey the posted speed limit and they will not make that annoying and expensive 'flash'.

I guess that another version of your sad tale could be.......

I was speeding out of town and I tripped a speed camera. As soon as it flashed, my attention focused on my speedometer instead of the road and the result of this was that my car swerved to the wrong side of the highway and my poor driving almost caused an accident.

Ergo speed cameras are dangerous.

Surely for it to be entrapment they would have to MAKE you speed somehow. Not sure I have seen the police doing that at all.

If you don't want to get flashed, don't speed. Simple as.

With the example I posted, they don't need to make you speed at all. The police can do it for you.

They can set the speed cameras at the bottom of hills set to go off 5km/h above the limit. Most cars travelling downhill have a tendency to speed up and it is very common to go 5k's over. That's entrapment.

Theres a regular spot on the West Coast Hwy just like that, fortunately most people who use that road a lot know about it but it's designed to trap those who, even with the cruise control on, will have sped up a bit going down the hill. Sneaky.

What they also do as well, where the road speed changes and the speed signs are obscured by a tree and not easily visible, is to set the cameras up just after the speed sign so they catch you as you are entering into the different speed zone and haven't adjusted your speed.