29 people died on NSW roads over the Christmas/New Year period and the police are now scrambling to come up with new strategies.
Last week I wrote a blog titled: Are People Dying In Car Accidents Just A Fact Of Life? My Musings After A Horror 2017 Christmas/New Year Period On Our Roads. Click here to read that blog.
Today as I read the Sunday Telegraph and looking at the strategies they are suggesting it got me thinking about the strategies of the Highway Patrol in NSW and I think I have a suggestion.
Don’t let considerations of revenue stipulate where Highway Patrol resources are allocated.
I lived in Nowra for 15 years. There was this little spot just on the right hand side of the road as you left the 80k zone went down into a little bridge crossing and coming up the other side as you drove into Cambewarra Village, where the police would sit (in the now 50km/hr). The cops would sit there writing ticket after ticket, at times me included, and yet not once in 15 years was there even a bingle there let alone a crash, let alone a fatality. But the cops were regularly there.
Then there was a little side street off Illaroo road near Chitticks Ave in North Nowra, where the police would park and shoot their laser down the long straight road which half way along, if you were travelling into North Nowra, would change from an 80 to a 60 zone, and if you didn’t immediately hit the brakes and the police were there, you would be done again. As I was. In 15 years, never once was there are accident there or after I asked around, never was it a black spot of any nature. But the cops were regularly there.
Then there was this little spot as you drove down pass the tafe in Bomaderry. It’s a lazy down hill, but as it was a 50 zone, if you happen to not ride the brakes down the hill, well one moment of inattention would lead to an infringement from the Highway Patrol sitting at the bottom of the hill…..Now surely this must have been a black spot….Nope. Known for accidents happening….Nope. Nothing. But the cops were regularly there.
Now trust me I could go on and tell you about the sneaky one who would hide behind the brick letterbox half way up Illaroo road on the left or the one who would hide in the shadows at the corner of McMahons and Rockhill Roads… but you get the idea. Oh Oh….I just thought of another one…driving through Fitzroy Falls and the speeds drops from 80 to 60 for 2 kms…..More times than not, there was a Highway Patrol waiting to pick off the visitors in the area that weren’t paying attention.
Now I am sorry but you can’t tell me these Police resources were allocated to these spots from a road safety perspective and if you think they were then I have a bridge over Sydney Harbour that I would like to sell to you. To me the Police Road Safety Strategy in the Shoalhaven Area is driven by revenue. Now I know that the revenue argument is something that is often thrown at the police, But I noticed that in the paper today, during the Christmas/New Year period, police resources were moved to known blackspot areas….Head shaking moment. Shouldn’t they have been there already?
In the 15 years I was in Nowra, I was constantly shaking my head at where the Highway Patrol were and where they weren’t.
Anyway that’s what I think.
Peter
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