Any wonder we’re cynical
So the NSW government has suddenly advised the Albury Council of its intention to install red-light and speed cameras at the intersection of Mate and Fallon streets without any prior consultation (‘Red alert’, The Border Mail, June 22).
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Well, that in itself should signal an ominous message about the real intention and motivation for the installation for a number of reasons.
Firstly, the NSW government advises it forecasts revenue from fines to rise by 4.6 per cent each year to reach a staggering $700 million each year by 2021.
One sneaky method about to be introduced is to raise the existing penalty for travelling less than 10 km/h over the prevailing limit from $114 to $265 plus a loss of three points, and we all know the “tolerance threshold” of speed cameras is about 3 km/h.
But the accuracy of modern speedometers is around 10 per cent, meaning hundreds of motorists will be slugged with the new fines when they are entitled to believe they are travelling at or under the speed limit.
How on earth is this fair? Motorists are entitled to believe it is again a cynical revenue earning exercise disguised as “road safety”.
Secondly, show us the stats of the actual accident history of that intersection and not just a few high-profile examples. Publish the traffic volume data and also the accident data for other intersections like the Five Ways so we can all see the government’s argument and not irrelevant comments by the Executive Director of the Centre for Road Safety, Bernard Carlon – “Last year, 157 people lost their lives because somebody was driving too fast” – with zero evidence to back-up this broad brush alarmist remark.
I have no issue with installation of red-light cameras but to couple them with speed cameras is the thin end of a revenue wedge.
Our local member Greg Aplin has some explaining to do.
George Krooglik, Albury
Forward thinking please
I welcome the $30 million funding announced for the Albury Base Hospital. Please use it for the future and don’t repeat the short-sighted mistakes made when this hospital was first planned.
Craig French, Lavington
There’s English, and Aussie
The standard of English language required to obtain Australian citizenship has some yet to be identified problems. The diligent migrant, possibly already proficient in his home language and at least one other, may find himself having to unlearn much of the Australian he has learned in his long wait for his English exam.
Having passed his English exam and finally being recognised as a qualified doctor, engineer, lawyer for which roles he has qualified in his home country, he may well find that his new-found perfect English is quite useless if he wishes to communicate with your average Aussie.
When I say “your average Aussie”, I do not intend to imply that any statistical average has been calculated or that the said Aussie actually belongs to you. Presumably the citizenship examination would include an aural as well as a written test.
The vernacular is sometimes difficult for even the most seasoned of us to comprehend. For example I recently translated for a migrant friend the words “not nuff bums on seats”, which those of your readers who already have full citizenship and would never be able to pass even the basic English test will recognise instantly as “attendance at the performance was poor”.
There are hundreds of similar examples. “Juggo der the footy Satdee” is a phrase used by my brilliant Indian dentist to put his patients at ease. He tells me it works like a charm which is another of the useful phrases you would probably not find in an English exam and which does not mean what it seems to mean. I would say to any government who would open this tin of worms … Hullo!!