Page 3965 - Week 09 - Thursday, 25 August 2011
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Management) Amendment Bill provides a legislative basis for point-to-point speed camera technology in the territory. Point-to-point speed cameras measure a person’s average speed between two points, unlike fixed speed cameras which use a range of different technologies to determine a vehicle speed at a particular point. The bill ensures that evidence of a vehicle’s average speed may be used to prove the commission of a speeding offence.
In considering the amendments in the bill, I believe it is important to bear in mind that point-to-point cameras are an addition to an existing system of traffic cameras for dealing with speeding and red light offences. The first traffic cameras to commence operation in the ACT were mobile speed cameras, which commenced operations in October 1999. Initially, the camera vans operated at only a very small number of sites, including Parkes Way near Glenloch Interchange. The first red light camera was installed in the year 2000 on Ginninderra Drive, and since then the traffic camera program has expanded. There are now five mobile camera vans that operate at 171 sites and 26 fixed speed and red light cameras.
The traffic camera program operates in conjunction with police speed enforcement operations, which use a range of speed measurement devices in marked and unmarked vehicles. While point-to-point speed cameras are a new technology, they will fit into a scheme for receiving and managing images from traffic cameras to generate infringement notices for traffic offences that has worked effectively and securely for over a decade.
The scheme involves a range of provisions across the road transport legislation, including the Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Act, the Road Transport (General) Act, the Road Transport (Driver Licensing) Act and the Road Transport (Vehicle Registration) Act, and the regulations made under those acts. It is also supported by privacy legislation, administrative guidelines and policies, including policies relating to the handling of private information and complaints.
The provisions relating to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information under the road transport legislation are set out in division 2.1 of the Road Transport (Vehicle Registration) Act, division 2.1 of the Road Transport (Driver Licensing) Act and the Road Transport (General) Act, and regulations made under those acts. The aggregation and linkage of data is implicitly authorised by section 36 of the Road Transport (General) Act, which provides that, if a vehicle has been involved in an offence, the responsible person for a vehicle may be served with an infringement notice for the offence by posting the notice to the address recorded on the database. Section 42 of the same act specifically relates to camera-detected offences and imposes obligations on owners of vehicles involved in camera-detected offences who are served with infringement notices.
In relation to the information that must be shown on images taken by point-to-point cameras, I can advise that traffic cameras, including the new point-to-point cameras, are programmed to record specific information on each image as it is taken. This information relates to matters such as the type and location of the camera, the image sequence and the date and time the image was taken. This is technical information relevant to proving when, where and how an image was taken so that the accuracy of
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