Sensor foibles have rendered a swathe of speed cameras stationed along a stretch of Victoria’s north-bound interstate highway obsolete via a realisation they have been incorrectly gauging speeding fines.
‘If there is a problem and the problem is through defective cameras over a period of time, they (the fines) should be refunded,’ said prominent silk, David Galbally, QC.
Victoria Premier John Brumby is opposing the potential ten million dollar fine refund and used his Police Minister, James Merlino, as a flak jacket against any barrage from hostile out-of-pocket motorists.
Merlino, perhaps stunned into stating the obvious by an incessant bombardment of questions about the malfunctioning cameras, says the problem with them is due to ‘a flaw in the system’.
Redflex, the American based provider of the cameras with the ‘flaws,’ says via a October 2009 media release, ‘the project (speed cameras) is part of the State Government’s program to upgrade existing wet film red light cameras to digital technology in its efforts to continue to improve safety on the roads’.
The nature of digital devices necessitate they be accurately calibrated before being put out to use and then, as the media release contends, regularly ‘maintained’.
When contacted and asked whether or not the ‘flaws’ were about technology failure as opposed to a failure to adequately maintain the sensitive measuring equipment, Redflex Australian General Manager Ricardo Fiusco became aggrieved and responded with a terse, ‘look i’m way too busy for this,’ and hung up.
American impersonater of the arch-doofus, Will Ferrell, would surely burst with such an inspiration motherload.
