Page 1764 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 18 August 1992
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
The police simply would not believe that he did not have a detector. There were three people in the car. One of the people in the car had a portable telephone and another had some other electronic equipment, but none of them had a radar detector. It was a quite concerning experience to be kept for 20 minutes. I have heard that this has happened fairly frequently with truck drivers.
I can well understand that the police, if they get a signal showing that a person has a radar detector, want to make sure that they find it. But it has been shown conclusively that other things can set off that signal. Someone suggested that electric fridges in a car can also do that. So I do not believe that radar detectors should be made illegal. There are also other reasons. I think it was in Victoria that a gentleman received a notice for speeding. He had been clocked apparently at 756 kilometres an hour - perhaps a little faster than he had been going at the time.
Ms Ellis: Did it show his altitude?
MR STEVENSON: That is a very good point. Indeed, you would have to have some altitude to get up to that speed on our roads, although many of them are getting better. There have been problems with detectors, both in America and in Australia. Most of the problems do not come to public notice. I think people should have the right to have a detector and to check their speed at the time. I note that Mr Connolly is writing down what I said. I said it deliberately and gave him plenty of time to do that. I think a person should have the right, if he is being booked, to check his speed at the time. There are occasions when people are not speeding.
Mr Lamont: That is why they have speedometers.
MR STEVENSON: Mr Lamont mentions speedometers. That is exactly the point I was about to make. It is not an uncommon occurrence for speedometers not to show the correct speed. One could well say that that is the car owner's responsibility. I suppose that is reasonable, although many people are not aware just how far their speedo can be out. Indeed, it can increase the faster you go. It might start out being five kilometres an hour out at 60 kilometres an hour on your speedo, and at 100 kilometres an hour it can be 15 kilometres an hour out. I think it would be worth letting people in Canberra know that it is a good idea to check their speedos. I do not think this has really come across. I mention that to the Minister as a suggestion.
There are various reasons why people do not believe that radar detectors should be prohibited. In the last week we conducted a survey on the question: Should radar detectors be illegal in the ACT? The results we got from 300 people were that 33.33 per cent said yes, they should be illegal; 53.66 per cent said no, they should not be illegal; 11 per cent were not concerned about the issue; and 2 per cent said that they did not have enough information to make a decision. It would seem clear that the majority of people in Canberra do not agree with the banning of radar detectors. The Minister might say that that does not matter, that we need to control the people for their own good, even if it is a majority. In this case, I disagree.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .