Lawyer slaps double demerits

‘It is the biggest furphy of all time,’ he said on 6PR radio.

‘Can anyone at the Road Safety Council show me that it has had any positive effect (on the road toll)?

‘At the end of the day, all it does is put a lot of good people who have made a momentary mistake off the road because it tips their points doubly over the limit and they lose their licence.’

In its Easter press statement, the Road Safety Council said the level of road trauma was unacceptable and defended demerit points.

‘Getting fined and accruing demerit points help in reducing risk-taking behaviours ” but don’t wait to get caught to change your behaviour,’ council chairman Murray Lampard said.

‘We can all commit to driving to the road rules, encouraging our passengers and family members to do the same, driving on the safest roads available and where possible choosing to drive in vehicles with four or five stars.’

Police were on the road over Easter in 48 new vehicles worth $3.78 million. With four cameras to each vehicle, they can scan 1000 number plates an hour.

‘This is a significant increase from the current manual in-car computers, which are able to check about 250 to 300 registration plates a day,’ Police Minister Liza Harvey said.

She said the cameras were linked to the police database, alerting officers by voice prompts when a target was identified.

Instead of random stops, officers can program the system to target vehicles of interest.