CHECKING SPEED

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30107, 16 April 1963, Page 9

CHECKING SPEED

New Machine Used In Aust. (NJ! Press Assn. —Copprtpht) MELBOURNE, April 15 A speed calculator is being used by police in an effort to keep the Easter road toll down. The machine, a German invention called the gatsom&ter, is being operated by a mobile branch squad on the Hume highway. The machine, after a year's testing, was first used several weeks ago near Benalla. Since then several motorists have been convicted on evidence obtained with the machine The machine comprises two strips of rubber tubing set some distance apart—usually 30ft or 40ft—across the roadway.

The strips are connected electrically to a meter about the size of a watch, which is held by a policeman standing out of sight. As the car’s wheels pass over the two rubber strips its speed is recorded on the meter. If its speed is considered too high, a motor-cycle policeman chases it.

The prima facie speed limit on country roads is 50 miles an hour. If a driver is stopped for exceeding this speed, the onus is on lV m to prove that he was not driving dangerously. Two police are needed for the machine—the one who bolds the meter, and the motor-cycle policeman. The chief of the police traffic branch, Superintendent F. Leigh, said last night that the machine had proved “very successful." but he could not say whether the Police Department would buy any more.

‘‘This machine we’ve got will probably be put to more use on highways,” he said. He said it had not yet been tested on the Mornington peninsula because the heavy traffic made it difficult to operate. He said the machine had been tested by Melbourne University.