Are speed cameras in Malaysia lying?

DAP National Deputy Chairman and MP for Kepong calls for the Malaysian Government to enquire into the reliability of the system of speed cameras used in the country.

It is high time that the Government let Malaysians know how many of them have been cheated by cameras that have flaws. While hundreds of thousands of motorists in the country have paid fines, have they been wrongly convicted? Many do not have the perseverance to overcome the hassle.

Dr Tan has received complaints from motorists who have received notices from traffic police. Some notices have been given to wrong drivers. Very often, motorists simply pay up without bothering to confirm whether they have done anything wrong.

From the hundreds of cameras installed in the country, the police would have to give photographs so that motorists can check whether they have exceeded the limits. Do the police study the photographs before issuing the summonses? Drivers who are not sure whether they had been speeding should ask for the photographic evidence.

In the United Kingdom, the Daily Mail on 24 December 2005 reported on speed cameras that do lie. The Dutch-made Gatsos account for 85 per cent of the UK's roadside cameras.

As there are flaws in speed cameras, motoring groups in UK are calling for the entire speed camera network to be shut down after a major technical flaw was exposed. According to the Daily Mail, motorcyclist Bryn Carlyon, 'caught' at 46 miles per hour (mph), proved he was actually doing just 18 mph.

"Mr Carlyon cleared his name after demanding to see the two photographs taken by the camera which supposedly recorded him at 46 mph in a 30 mph zone in Cardiff (Wales).

"He used the lines painted on the road to measure how far his motorbike travelled in the half second between the first timed picture and the second.

"This let him calculate his speed at more like 18 mph, and certainly no higher than 26 mph.

"But it took him seven months and a lot of perseverance to prove his innocence."