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question_id: 867
Back in 1853, when speeding horses and carts were causing fatalities, police were given the power to fine coach drivers for ‘furious driving’, or speeding which was evidenced by a sweaty and heavy-breathing horse.
Unfortunately, when motor cars arrived in the 1900s, they did not sweat or puff so providing evidence of speeding became quite a challenge. Police quickly realised that to prevent road fatalities they needed to focus on innovative ways of gathering evidence.
In 1947, First Constable Tom Cunningham started taking photographic evidence of road offences. Three years later, he improved his technology by mounting his camera on a tripod in a van, allowing him to capture a broader range of road offences like driving on the wrong side of the road, parking in prohibited places and failing to keep in traffic lanes. His methods were copied by police departments across the world.
During the 1960s, road policing continues to evolve with the first breathalyser being created and the introduction of laws around drink driving. It became an offence to drive with a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) exceeding.05. Other states were introducing .08 limits, but in time they followed Victoria’s stance.
In 1863, a device known as an Amphometer was introduced to determine a driver’s speed by using rubber tubes at different points on a road.
Despite the progression of technology, police focus and policy, in 1970 the road toll reached a long heartbreaking peak at 1061. That year Victoria became the first state in the world to introduce compulsory seatbelt laws. The road toll dropped dramatically by 13 per cent the following year to 923.
Further incentives such as the first use of mobile speed cameras in 1993 and drug detection in 2004 (Victoria was the first jurisdiction in the world to introduce it) also helped reduce the road toll.
Road Policing’s Assistant Commissioner Robert Hill commended drivers for their part in reducing fatalities on Victorian roads. “In 1970, when the road toll reached its peak of 1061 deaths there were about 1.4 million registered vehicles,” he said. “Now we have around four million and our provisional road toll in 2012 was 279.” Based on these figures, in 1970 there were around 75 fatalities per 100,000 registered vehicles while in 2012 there were around seven per 100,000 registered vehicles.
“While advancements in technology in cars and on the roads have gone a long way to improving road safety, enforcement and public education have been instrumental in changing society’s attitude toward safe driving behaviour on our roads.” AC Hill said police would continue to be innovative thinkers in the space of road policing enforcement and reduce the road toll, simply because 279 families losing their loved ones is 279 too many.”
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