By Michael Sinclair
SPEEDING motorists on the Western Ring Road will face a greater chance of being caught when new speed cameras are installed later this year.
Cameras were switched off there in 2004 after an old Datsun was incorrectly clocked doing more than 150km/h on a stretch of the road.
Then a wave of complaints following incorrect speed readings proved to be the final nail in the coffin for the privately owned system.
But, while the old cameras have been idle for more than two years, the new radar cameras will be switched on by the end of 2006.
The 21 cameras will be installed at eight different places along the road at a cost of more than $6 million to the State Government.
Dutch manufacturer Gatsometer BV, a major world supplier of radar and speed camera technology, will import the new cameras – the company supplies Victoria’s working batch of mobile cameras.
Police believe the new cameras will be much more reliable than the earlier models, and have promised an extensive advertising campaign warning drivers before they are switched on.
The new cameras will also be given a lengthy trial period before becoming operational, and will be positioned behind overpasses and on freeway signs.
The faulty cameras became a major embarrassment for the State Government when they were decommissioned in 2004.
The government waived fines adding to about $13 million for more than 90,000 drivers caught speeding by the cameras.
Hundreds of drivers who lost their licence through the demerit point system were allowed back on to the road, and 2500 who lost their licence in 2003 received at least one fine from cameras on the Western Ring Road.
The installation of new cameras on Geelong Rd nabbed more than 3000 speeding motorists over two days in January and February.
