Reduced Speed Tolerance Nets $8M windfall for QPS

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Taken from the Courier Mail:

GIVING motorists less leeway for speeding on Queensland roads has delivered an immediate windfall for police of close to $8 million.

In the first two weeks after police lowered the tolerance margin for speeding offences for the second time this year, detections soared 30 per cent compared with the same period last year.

The tolerance margin is the number of kilometres motorists are allowed to exceed the speed limit before being fined.

Police will not reveal what the margin is, but it is widely believed to be about 10 per cent above the speed limit.

When the margin was lowered by just 1km an hour in 60km/h zones in July, detections increased more than 20 per cent the next month.

Police then announced a "second adjustment" of tolerance margins would occur from September 20 to encourage people to obey the speed limit.

In the two weeks that followed, 53,816 motorists were caught - or 3844 a day.

That compared with the 41,383 speeding fines issued in the same period last year - or 2955 a day.

Based on the minimum speeding fine of $146 for travelling up to 13km/h over the limit, the two-week period generated at least $7.857 million for police, compared with $6.04 million at the same time last year.

Inspector Peter Flanders, from the Road Policing Command, said the lowering of tolerance margins would have played some part in the increase but the result could mostly be attributed to greater enforcement by police.

"There has been a very strong focus on traffic, probably significantly more than in the past," Insp Flanders said.

Despite the extra efforts of police, the number of fatalities recorded in the two-week period was one higher than the previous year - at 17 lives lost, up from 16.

Other offences detected by police also increased - with the number of people caught not wearing a seatbelt soaring 52 per cent to 862.

Drink-driving offences were up 5 per cent, from 1181 to 1242, drug-driving up 15 per cent (67 to 77) and mobile phone offences rose 32 per cent (841 to 1111).

However, Insp Flanders said police were "not about writing tickets but stopping crashes".

"What we want to change is the attitude to speed limits," he said.
"If the speed limit says 60 or 100 and you look down and your speedo is even 1km over that, then you're speeding."

Queensland's road toll stands at 229 lives, two more than at the same time last year.

So it's NOT working... right??

If it is it's clear who's the main beneficiary.