The Western Australia Police Force is making an example of a driver caught speeding by seizing his car and using it for an upcoming Road Safety Commission campaign.
The 26-year old driver of a Lexus IS 350 was clocked travelling 205km/h – 95km/h over the posted speed limit – on the Forrest Highway, south of Perth earlier last year.
He was convicted of reckless driving, fined $2000 and disqualified from driving for six months.
In July 2023, the Bunbury Magistrates Court sided with the Western Australia Police Force and approved an application to have the vehicle seized.
The vehicle will be sold later this year with the proceeds going to the Road Traffic Trauma Account, intended to make Western Australian roads safer.
However, before the vehicle is sold the Road Safety Commission – a branch of the Western Australia Police Force – will display the vehicle around Perth in the coming weeks as part of its new You See, We See campaign aimed at reducing speed-related accidents.
The Lexus IS 350 has been fitted with new number plates “4Fited” and plastered with writing around the vehicle that reads, “You see a forfeited car… We see a safer road.”
The vehicle also wears Road Safety Commission and Western Australian Police logos.
“This example is at the extreme end of speeding but even low-level speeding adds unnecessary risk – speeding is not ok,” said Road Safety Commissioner Adrian Warner.
“It’s a numbers game – lots of drivers adding a little bit of risk to their individual journeys adds up to a bigger risk for all road users and that is what we see in the road trauma statistics.
“The ultimate consequence when it comes to speeding is death, but we know for many people the fear of getting caught can be more powerful in influencing their behaviour.
“If the consequence of getting caught is losing your car then the disincentive to speed is even stronger.
“People are not perfect – we all make mistakes BUT speed limits are not a guide, not a target, not an optional extra. If more people drive at or under the speed limit more often, we would see the road toll tumble.”
The Western Australia Police Force says its traffic monitoring shows around 30 per cent of vehicles are speeding at any given time.
Most of these speeding vehicles are doing 1-9km/h over the speed limit – and it’s this “low-level” speeding culture it wants to change.
According to the Road Safety Commission, if a pedestrian is hit by a vehicle travelling 30km/h they will have a 10 per cent chance of dying, whereas if a pedestrian was hit by a vehicle travelling at 50km/h they would have a 90 per cent chance of dying.
The Commission claims when drivers apply the brakes on their vehicle during dry conditions while travelling 60km/h, the vehicle will take 56 metres to stop. A vehicle travelling at 100km/h would take 133 metres to stop, and these figures are increased by 25 per cent during wet conditions.
According to Mr Warner, over 100 vehicles were seized by Western Australian Police in 2023 and over 1500 vehicles were impounded due to excessive speeding.
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