❓ Minister Kobelke responds to a question regarding the accuracy of a West Australian article comparing speed camera fines across states, highlighting inaccuracies in the article's data and methodology.
AnsweredQoN 196Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
SPEED CAMERA FINES
I refer to the front page article in The West Australian on 7 April 2008. Do the figures given provide an accurate comparison between the states on speed cameras and the number of fines issued? Mr J.C. KOBELKE
I refer to the front page article in The West Australian on 7 April 2008. Do the figures given provide an accurate comparison between the states on speed cameras and the number of fines issued? Mr J.C. KOBELKE
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for his question. The short answer is no. There is an unfortunate lack of accuracy. The West Australian and other media outlets play a very important role in highlighting issues relating to road safety and road safety enforcement. There is an area of necessary debate about what is the best enforcement regime, whether it be Multanovas or hand-held cameras, and the way in which enforcement is carried out. The government is undertaking a review to find out how better to do that. This is primarily driven by the fact that we have to buy new equipment, so we need to make sure that we put a far better system in place. The government seeks to do so. Unfortunately, The West Australian made a few minor errors in a front-page article that sought to promote a very important debate. I will examine three of those errors. The article states — The analysis by The West Australian found 494,934 Multanova-generated infringements were issued to WA’s 1.42 million drivers last financial year . . . Those figures were taken from a freedom of information request to Western Australia Police by The West Australian . It asked how many civilian motorists were caught by laser or speed cameras. That is what the figure of 494 934 is in reference to. The West Australian was given the correct number in answer to the question asked, which was about lasers or speed cameras. However, the figure was somehow mistranslated on the front page of The West Australian , and it used the larger number in reference only to Multanovas, ruling out all the other infringements of which there are a very large number. Unfortunately, The West Australian got that one wrong. Further along, the article stated that in Victoria there were 170 speed camera infringements for every 1 000 drivers. However, The West Australian arrived at that figure after leaving out mobile speed cameras, red light cameras and point-to-point cameras. To make a comparison between Western Australia and Victoria, The West Australian took the larger figure for Western Australia and claimed that it applied to only one part of the capture, and published the figures for one part of the capture in Victoria and claimed it was the total figure. The West Australian got that slightly wrong. Further along, the article states — NSW’s 145 speed cameras are all fixed units. I rang the New South Wales police that day and was told that they do in fact have other speed cameras that are not fixed cameras. They have cameras mounted on cars. The infringement figures published in The West Australian , and the statement that all New South Wales speed cameras are fixed, are simply not true. It is a very important issue that needs to be debated, so we need to have accuracy. Western Australia Police has already acknowledged that it made an error when answering the freedom of information request from The West Australian . The police said that there were 494 934 Multanova-generated infringements, but the figure had been double-counted because under owner-onus, an infringement is counted twice because it is initially issued to the owner of the vehicle, who is not responsible for the offence. This means that approximately 55 000 infringements were double-counted. The figure should have been 439 363 for all infringements. If the hand-held camera infringements, numbering more than 114 000, were removed, the total number of Multanova speed infringements for 2006-07 would be 325 025. This is an important debate and we might make some progress if the debate is based on reliable statistics, rather than using numbers that simply make no sense.
Mr J.C. KOBELKE replied: I thank the member for his question. The short answer is no. There is an unfortunate lack of accuracy. The West Australian and other media outlets play a very important role in highlighting issues relating to road safety and road safety enforcement. There is an area of necessary debate about what is the best enforcement regime, whether it be Multanovas or hand-held cameras, and the way in which enforcement is carried out. The government is undertaking a review to find out how better to do that. This is primarily driven by the fact that we have to buy new equipment, so we need to make sure that we put a far better system in place. The government seeks to do so. Unfortunately, The West Australian made a few minor errors in a front-page article that sought to promote a very important debate. I will examine three of those errors. The article states — The analysis by The West Australian found 494,934 Multanova-generated infringements were issued to WA’s 1.42 million drivers last financial year . . . Those figures were taken from a freedom of information request to Western Australia Police by The West Australian . It asked how many civilian motorists were caught by laser or speed cameras. That is what the figure of 494 934 is in reference to. The West Australian was given the correct number in answer to the question asked, which was about lasers or speed cameras. However, the figure was somehow mistranslated on the front page of The West Australian , and it used the larger number in reference only to Multanovas, ruling out all the other infringements of which there are a very large number. Unfortunately, The West Australian got that one wrong. Further along, the article stated that in Victoria there were 170 speed camera infringements for every 1 000 drivers. However, The West Australian arrived at that figure after leaving out mobile speed cameras, red light cameras and point-to-point cameras. To make a comparison between Western Australia and Victoria, The West Australian took the larger figure for Western Australia and claimed that it applied to only one part of the capture, and published the figures for one part of the capture in Victoria and claimed it was the total figure. The West Australian got that slightly wrong. Further along, the article states — NSW’s 145 speed cameras are all fixed units. I rang the New South Wales police that day and was told that they do in fact have other speed cameras that are not fixed cameras. They have cameras mounted on cars. The infringement figures published in The West Australian , and the statement that all New South Wales speed cameras are fixed, are simply not true. It is a very important issue that needs to be debated, so we need to have accuracy. Western Australia Police has already acknowledged that it made an error when answering the freedom of information request from The West Australian . The police said that there were 494 934 Multanova-generated infringements, but the figure had been double-counted because under owner-onus, an infringement is counted twice because it is initially issued to the owner of the vehicle, who is not responsible for the offence. This means that approximately 55 000 infringements were double-counted. The figure should have been 439 363 for all infringements. If the hand-held camera infringements, numbering more than 114 000, were removed, the total number of Multanova speed infringements for 2006-07 would be 325 025. This is an important debate and we might make some progress if the debate is based on reliable statistics, rather than using numbers that simply make no sense.
I thank the member for his question. The short answer is no. There is an unfortunate lack of accuracy. The West Australian and other media outlets play a very important role in highlighting issues relating to road safety and road safety enforcement. There is an area of necessary debate about what is the best enforcement regime, whether it be Multanovas or hand-held cameras, and the way in which enforcement is carried out. The government is undertaking a review to find out how better to do that. This is primarily driven by the fact that we have to buy new equipment, so we need to make sure that we put a far better system in place. The government seeks to do so. Unfortunately, The West Australian made a few minor errors in a front-page article that sought to promote a very important debate. I will examine three of those errors. The article states — The analysis by The West Australian found 494,934 Multanova-generated infringements were issued to WA’s 1.42 million drivers last financial year . . . Those figures were taken from a freedom of information request to Western Australia Police by The West Australian . It asked how many civilian motorists were caught by laser or speed cameras. That is what the figure of 494 934 is in reference to. The West Australian was given the correct number in answer to the question asked, which was about lasers or speed cameras. However, the figure was somehow mistranslated on the front page of The West Australian , and it used the larger number in reference only to Multanovas, ruling out all the other infringements of which there are a very large number. Unfortunately, The West Australian got that one wrong. Further along, the article stated that in Victoria there were 170 speed camera infringements for every 1 000 drivers. However, The West Australian arrived at that figure after leaving out mobile speed cameras, red light cameras and point-to-point cameras. To make a comparison between Western Australia and Victoria, The West Australian took the larger figure for Western Australia and claimed that it applied to only one part of the capture, and published the figures for one part of the capture in Victoria and claimed it was the total figure. The West Australian got that slightly wrong. Further along, the article states — NSW’s 145 speed cameras are all fixed units. I rang the New South Wales police that day and was told that they do in fact have other speed cameras that are not fixed cameras. They have cameras mounted on cars. The infringement figures published in The West Australian , and the statement that all New South Wales speed cameras are fixed, are simply not true. It is a very important issue that needs to be debated, so we need to have accuracy. Western Australia Police has already acknowledged that it made an error when answering the freedom of information request from The West Australian . The police said that there were 494 934 Multanova-generated infringements, but the figure had been double-counted because under owner-onus, an infringement is counted twice because it is initially issued to the owner of the vehicle, who is not responsible for the offence. This means that approximately 55 000 infringements were double-counted. The figure should have been 439 363 for all infringements. If the hand-held camera infringements, numbering more than 114 000, were removed, the total number of Multanova speed infringements for 2006-07 would be 325 025. This is an important debate and we might make some progress if the debate is based on reliable statistics, rather than using numbers that simply make no sense.
Further along, the article stated that in Victoria there were 170 speed camera infringements for every 1 000 drivers. However, The West Australian arrived at that figure after leaving out mobile speed cameras, red light cameras and point-to-point cameras. To make a comparison between Western Australia and Victoria, The West Australian took the larger figure for Western Australia and claimed that it applied to only one part of the capture, and published the figures for one part of the capture in Victoria and claimed it was the total figure. The West Australian got that slightly wrong. Further along, the article states — NSW’s 145 speed cameras are all fixed units. I rang the New South Wales police that day and was told that they do in fact have other speed cameras that are not fixed cameras. They have cameras mounted on cars. The infringement figures published in The West Australian , and the statement that all New South Wales speed cameras are fixed, are simply not true. It is a very important issue that needs to be debated, so we need to have accuracy. Western Australia Police has already acknowledged that it made an error when answering the freedom of information request from The West Australian . The police said that there were 494 934 Multanova-generated infringements, but the figure had been double-counted because under owner-onus, an infringement is counted twice because it is initially issued to the owner of the vehicle, who is not responsible for the offence. This means that approximately 55 000 infringements were double-counted. The figure should have been 439 363 for all infringements. If the hand-held camera infringements, numbering more than 114 000, were removed, the total number of Multanova speed infringements for 2006-07 would be 325 025. This is an important debate and we might make some progress if the debate is based on reliable statistics, rather than using numbers that simply make no sense.
Further along, the article states — NSW’s 145 speed cameras are all fixed units. I rang the New South Wales police that day and was told that they do in fact have other speed cameras that are not fixed cameras. They have cameras mounted on cars. The infringement figures published in The West Australian , and the statement that all New South Wales speed cameras are fixed, are simply not true. It is a very important issue that needs to be debated, so we need to have accuracy. Western Australia Police has already acknowledged that it made an error when answering the freedom of information request from The West Australian . The police said that there were 494 934 Multanova-generated infringements, but the figure had been double-counted because under owner-onus, an infringement is counted twice because it is initially issued to the owner of the vehicle, who is not responsible for the offence. This means that approximately 55 000 infringements were double-counted. The figure should have been 439 363 for all infringements. If the hand-held camera infringements, numbering more than 114 000, were removed, the total number of Multanova speed infringements for 2006-07 would be 325 025. This is an important debate and we might make some progress if the debate is based on reliable statistics, rather than using numbers that simply make no sense.
It is a very important issue that needs to be debated, so we need to have accuracy. Western Australia Police has already acknowledged that it made an error when answering the freedom of information request from The West Australian . The police said that there were 494 934 Multanova-generated infringements, but the figure had been double-counted because under owner-onus, an infringement is counted twice because it is initially issued to the owner of the vehicle, who is not responsible for the offence. This means that approximately 55 000 infringements were double-counted. The figure should have been 439 363 for all infringements. If the hand-held camera infringements, numbering more than 114 000, were removed, the total number of Multanova speed infringements for 2006-07 would be 325 025. This is an important debate and we might make some progress if the debate is based on reliable statistics, rather than using numbers that simply make no sense.
This is an important debate and we might make some progress if the debate is based on reliable statistics, rather than using numbers that simply make no sense.
Mr J.C. KOBELKE replied: I thank the member for his question. The short answer is no. There is an unfortunate lack of accuracy. The West Australian and other media outlets play a very important role in highlighting issues relating to road safety and road safety enforcement. There is an area of necessary debate about what is the best enforcement regime, whether it be Multanovas or hand-held cameras, and the way in which enforcement is carried out. The government is undertaking a review to find out how better to do that. This is primarily driven by the fact that we have to buy new equipment, so we need to make sure that we put a far better system in place. The government seeks to do so. Unfortunately, The West Australian made a few minor errors in a front-page article that sought to promote a very important debate. I will examine three of those errors. The article states — The analysis by The West Australian found 494,934 Multanova-generated infringements were issued to WA’s 1.42 million drivers last financial year . . . Those figures were taken from a freedom of information request to Western Australia Police by The West Australian . It asked how many civilian motorists were caught by laser or speed cameras. That is what the figure of 494 934 is in reference to. The West Australian was given the correct number in answer to the question asked, which was about lasers or speed cameras. However, the figure was somehow mistranslated on the front page of The West Australian , and it used the larger number in reference only to Multanovas, ruling out all the other infringements of which there are a very large number. Unfortunately, The West Australian got that one wrong. Further along, the article stated that in Victoria there were 170 speed camera infringements for every 1 000 drivers. However, The West Australian arrived at that figure after leaving out mobile speed cameras, red light cameras and point-to-point cameras. To make a comparison between Western Australia and Victoria, The West Australian took the larger figure for Western Australia and claimed that it applied to only one part of the capture, and published the figures for one part of the capture in Victoria and claimed it was the total figure. The West Australian got that slightly wrong. Further along, the article states — NSW’s 145 speed cameras are all fixed units. I rang the New South Wales police that day and was told that they do in fact have other speed cameras that are not fixed cameras. They have cameras mounted on cars. The infringement figures published in The West Australian , and the statement that all New South Wales speed cameras are fixed, are simply not true. It is a very important issue that needs to be debated, so we need to have accuracy. Western Australia Police has already acknowledged that it made an error when answering the freedom of information request from The West Australian . The police said that there were 494 934 Multanova-generated infringements, but the figure had been double-counted because under owner-onus, an infringement is counted twice because it is initially issued to the owner of the vehicle, who is not responsible for the offence. This means that approximately 55 000 infringements were double-counted. The figure should have been 439 363 for all infringements. If the hand-held camera infringements, numbering more than 114 000, were removed, the total number of Multanova speed infringements for 2006-07 would be 325 025. This is an important debate and we might make some progress if the debate is based on reliable statistics, rather than using numbers that simply make no sense.
I thank the member for his question. The short answer is no. There is an unfortunate lack of accuracy. The West Australian and other media outlets play a very important role in highlighting issues relating to road safety and road safety enforcement. There is an area of necessary debate about what is the best enforcement regime, whether it be Multanovas or hand-held cameras, and the way in which enforcement is carried out. The government is undertaking a review to find out how better to do that. This is primarily driven by the fact that we have to buy new equipment, so we need to make sure that we put a far better system in place. The government seeks to do so. Unfortunately, The West Australian made a few minor errors in a front-page article that sought to promote a very important debate. I will examine three of those errors. The article states — The analysis by The West Australian found 494,934 Multanova-generated infringements were issued to WA’s 1.42 million drivers last financial year . . . Those figures were taken from a freedom of information request to Western Australia Police by The West Australian . It asked how many civilian motorists were caught by laser or speed cameras. That is what the figure of 494 934 is in reference to. The West Australian was given the correct number in answer to the question asked, which was about lasers or speed cameras. However, the figure was somehow mistranslated on the front page of The West Australian , and it used the larger number in reference only to Multanovas, ruling out all the other infringements of which there are a very large number. Unfortunately, The West Australian got that one wrong. Further along, the article stated that in Victoria there were 170 speed camera infringements for every 1 000 drivers. However, The West Australian arrived at that figure after leaving out mobile speed cameras, red light cameras and point-to-point cameras. To make a comparison between Western Australia and Victoria, The West Australian took the larger figure for Western Australia and claimed that it applied to only one part of the capture, and published the figures for one part of the capture in Victoria and claimed it was the total figure. The West Australian got that slightly wrong. Further along, the article states — NSW’s 145 speed cameras are all fixed units. I rang the New South Wales police that day and was told that they do in fact have other speed cameras that are not fixed cameras. They have cameras mounted on cars. The infringement figures published in The West Australian , and the statement that all New South Wales speed cameras are fixed, are simply not true. It is a very important issue that needs to be debated, so we need to have accuracy. Western Australia Police has already acknowledged that it made an error when answering the freedom of information request from The West Australian . The police said that there were 494 934 Multanova-generated infringements, but the figure had been double-counted because under owner-onus, an infringement is counted twice because it is initially issued to the owner of the vehicle, who is not responsible for the offence. This means that approximately 55 000 infringements were double-counted. The figure should have been 439 363 for all infringements. If the hand-held camera infringements, numbering more than 114 000, were removed, the total number of Multanova speed infringements for 2006-07 would be 325 025. This is an important debate and we might make some progress if the debate is based on reliable statistics, rather than using numbers that simply make no sense.
Further along, the article stated that in Victoria there were 170 speed camera infringements for every 1 000 drivers. However, The West Australian arrived at that figure after leaving out mobile speed cameras, red light cameras and point-to-point cameras. To make a comparison between Western Australia and Victoria, The West Australian took the larger figure for Western Australia and claimed that it applied to only one part of the capture, and published the figures for one part of the capture in Victoria and claimed it was the total figure. The West Australian got that slightly wrong. Further along, the article states — NSW’s 145 speed cameras are all fixed units. I rang the New South Wales police that day and was told that they do in fact have other speed cameras that are not fixed cameras. They have cameras mounted on cars. The infringement figures published in The West Australian , and the statement that all New South Wales speed cameras are fixed, are simply not true. It is a very important issue that needs to be debated, so we need to have accuracy. Western Australia Police has already acknowledged that it made an error when answering the freedom of information request from The West Australian . The police said that there were 494 934 Multanova-generated infringements, but the figure had been double-counted because under owner-onus, an infringement is counted twice because it is initially issued to the owner of the vehicle, who is not responsible for the offence. This means that approximately 55 000 infringements were double-counted. The figure should have been 439 363 for all infringements. If the hand-held camera infringements, numbering more than 114 000, were removed, the total number of Multanova speed infringements for 2006-07 would be 325 025. This is an important debate and we might make some progress if the debate is based on reliable statistics, rather than using numbers that simply make no sense.
Further along, the article states — NSW’s 145 speed cameras are all fixed units. I rang the New South Wales police that day and was told that they do in fact have other speed cameras that are not fixed cameras. They have cameras mounted on cars. The infringement figures published in The West Australian , and the statement that all New South Wales speed cameras are fixed, are simply not true. It is a very important issue that needs to be debated, so we need to have accuracy. Western Australia Police has already acknowledged that it made an error when answering the freedom of information request from The West Australian . The police said that there were 494 934 Multanova-generated infringements, but the figure had been double-counted because under owner-onus, an infringement is counted twice because it is initially issued to the owner of the vehicle, who is not responsible for the offence. This means that approximately 55 000 infringements were double-counted. The figure should have been 439 363 for all infringements. If the hand-held camera infringements, numbering more than 114 000, were removed, the total number of Multanova speed infringements for 2006-07 would be 325 025. This is an important debate and we might make some progress if the debate is based on reliable statistics, rather than using numbers that simply make no sense.
It is a very important issue that needs to be debated, so we need to have accuracy. Western Australia Police has already acknowledged that it made an error when answering the freedom of information request from The West Australian . The police said that there were 494 934 Multanova-generated infringements, but the figure had been double-counted because under owner-onus, an infringement is counted twice because it is initially issued to the owner of the vehicle, who is not responsible for the offence. This means that approximately 55 000 infringements were double-counted. The figure should have been 439 363 for all infringements. If the hand-held camera infringements, numbering more than 114 000, were removed, the total number of Multanova speed infringements for 2006-07 would be 325 025. This is an important debate and we might make some progress if the debate is based on reliable statistics, rather than using numbers that simply make no sense.
This is an important debate and we might make some progress if the debate is based on reliable statistics, rather than using numbers that simply make no sense.
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