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It's not as crazy as it sounds, provided you believe the Queensland police chief who made the commitment recently when he unveiled an intensified speed camera program for the sunshine state.
Commissioner Bob Atkinson said he would remove cameras as soon as the toll dropped, but he is on safe ground with the Queensland toll going the wrong way through 2009 despite every effort by the police. Atkinson says the only time since 1955 that the Queensland toll was less than 300 people was in 1988, the year radar was introduced for speed enforcement.
Predictably, Atkinson made his move ahead of the Christmas travel season, just as the TAC in Victoria also touted the latest Moving Mode Radars to catch speeders in the state. "Police will be out in force with radars in hand to help ensure your Christmas is not wrecked by idiots speeding on our roads," says Victoria's acting superintendent Steve Frost.
More than 200 of the moving mode radar units will be in action through to the new year, firstly through Operation RAID and then through Operation Aegis If it all sounds like a military-style operation, it is, but the objective is to minimise casualites.
While the police are pushing the radar angle, Atkinson makes some far better points in an open letter on the dangers of driving. "We cannot make you have a good night's sleep before you set out on a road trip," he says.
"We cannot stop you getting behind the wheel after you have been drinking. We cannot stop you picking up the mobile phone."
