Malanda near Cairns claims residents have been bankrupted by a …
By Pranav Harish For Daily Mail Australia[1]
Published: 05:58, 25 November 2023 | Updated: 05:58, 25 November 2023
Locals in a small rural town claim they have been almost bankrupted by a single speed camera in the area, with the device responsible for almost £300,000 worth of fines.
Residents in Malanda, 114 kilometres south-west of Cairns in far north Queensland[2] have collectively been slapped with close to 600 fines.
With only 811 households living in a community with a population around 2,800 people, residents are shocked by how much they may have to fork out to pay their speeding tickets.
Residents in Malanda (pictured), 114 kilometres south-west of Cairns in far north Queensland have collectively been slapped with close to 600 fines
Trainee ambulance driver Lana Miller racked up nine fines which all arrived in the mail on the same day leaving her with a massive £7,000 bill.
The alleged speeding offences are believed to have taken place over a five-day period including when she was driving along a stretch of the winding Malanda Atherton Road.
Cristy Bonadio, who owns a trucking company, Bono’s Earthmoving, was hit with five fines despite most of the 40 vehicles registered under the company having not received a fine in decades.
In disbelief, Ms Bonadio decided to ask others if they too had copped a spate of fines recently and was stunned with the responses she received from locals.
‘So I put up on the local social media group, ‘Has anyone been done with a camera with fines they received that are questionable?’, she told The Guardian[3].
‘I was flabbergasted at the amount of people that responded to it.
Literally hundreds.’
Thanks to one single speed camera with the serial number 0x0003800B0 that was put up on Malanda Atherton road, locals combined have received a total of £282,627 in fines.
The estimated figure was calculated by local MP Shane Knuth who was inundated with calls from frustrated residents who were booked by the camera.
During a two-week period in September this year, Mr Knuth tallied up at least 580 fines.
Elderly residents fear they will be stripped of their driver’s licences because of the amount of speeding tickets they have received.
Like many other locals, Ms Bonadio says she’s frustrated by how long it takes for each of the fines to arrive in the mail and said it goes against the policy of ensuring people don’t speed.
Many said some of their vehicles cannot travel at the speed the camera allegedly caught them driving at.
A spokesperson from the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads told The Guardian[4] that the transportable road safety camera was operated between September 7 and 21, 2023.
‘The use of effective safety interventions, such as road safety cameras that also free-up police officers for other duties, is a benefit to everyone,’ the spokesperson said.
They said delays in the tickets being sent to recipients occurred because ‘each infringement is manually reviewed for accuracy’.
‘Currently, the law requires camera detected offences to be issued to the registered operator of the vehicle by post.’
‘Deployment records of TRSCs (transportable road safety cameras) have shown reductions in offences over the period of deployment, indicating that motorists are amending their speeding behaviour after seeing the speed camera before any infringements have been received.’
According to the department the cameras are independently tested before they are used and are designed to be used appropriately on roads.
Daily Mail Australia contacted the department for comment.
Residents were shocked when they received multiple fines in the mail, racking up thousands of dollars (stock image)
Fed up locals are individually planning to take the matter to court with a local solicitor in Atherton, Brad Bragg, preparing to file a class action on behalf of several residents in Malanda who have received fines (stock image)
The Queensland Police service manual for speed detection states speed camera devices should not be operated on a road that is considered a downgrade of a hill, which the Malanda Atherton road is.
Fed up locals are individually planning to take the matter to court with a local solicitor in Atherton, Brad Bragg, preparing to file a class action on behalf of several residents in Malanda who have received fines.
He said the local courts won’t be able to cope up with individual cases relating to the fines.
‘If every person does contest it, the courts – certainly the Atherton magistrates court – would certainly be inundated,’ Mr Bragg said.
While several politicians who represent constituents across far north Queensland affected by the issue raised the matter in parliament, it’s understood some locals have already paid their fines.
References
- ^ Pranav Harish For Daily Mail Australia (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Queensland (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ The Guardian (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ The Guardian (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Queensland (www.dailymail.co.uk)