THE state government has been left red-faced by yet another Wagga mobile speed camera fiasco, with the Minister for Roads' own department caught giving wrong information about warning signs to another instrumentality.
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A spokesman for the minister, Duncan Gay, yesterday admitted that a letter sent to Wagga man Wes Higgins by the State Debt Recovery Office (SDRO) contained wrong information.
Mr Higgins appealed against a speeding fine on the grounds that mobile speed camera warning signs placed in Docker Street on the weekend of February 16 and 17 were not placed a legal distance from the car-mounted camera and were also obstructed by other parked vehicles.
He lodged the appeal after reading about the dodgy signs in The Daily Advertiser a couple of days after he was booked and then Mr Gay's comments that the placement of the signs looked like entrapment.
"We want a clear message out there, and the placement of these signs was careless at best," Mr Gay told the Advertiser.
But Mr Higgins's hopes of a retraction of his $230 fine and three demerit points were dashed in a bizarre letter from the SDRO last week.
"Roads and Maritime Services (sic) advise there are no warning signs on the approach to a mobile speed camera, however courtesy signs are positioned after a mobile speed camera to inform a driver that their speed has been checked," said the letter signed by the SDRO's assistant director, operations.
"These signs are not required by law and their presence or absence does not affect the validity of a penalty notice."
The letter flies in the face of the government's own speed camera strategy, which was announced on June 1 last year and makes clear that warning signs must be placed well ahead of a camera.
"The number of warning signs will double, they will be raised from the ground and motorists will get up to 250 metres advance warning of a mobile speed camera, rather than the current 50 metres," Mr Gay said in a media statement.
The spokesman for Mr Gay who was unavailable for comment said the letter to Mr Higgins was "unhelpful".
"I imagine there will be an inquiry to find out why the wrong information was sent to the SRDO," he said.
Asked who should be believed about the warnings signs, the spokesman said: "You believe the minister".
He said letters had been sent by Mr Gay's office to State Debt Recovery and the RMS to fix the wrong information.
And he said it would be a matter for State Debt Recovery to reconsider Mr Higgins's fine.
Mr Higgins wonders how many other drivers have been caught in the same situation as him.
"I'm happy to cop it if it is fair and square, but there is too much confusion," Mr Higgins said.
"If they move the goal posts how do you stay on top of it?
"For something that is raising a lot of revenue for the state they should have clear guidelines."
Late yesterday, Mr Gay's spokesman said the minister would write to Finance Minister, Greg Pearce, asking him to request the SDRO revoke Mr Higgins's fine.
The spokesman said Mr Gay could only ask for a revocation because the SDRO was not within his department.