I pulled over to take a closer look, and found a car belong to SGS S.A. – a Swiss multinational company which provides inspection, verification, testing and certification services.

There was a piece of tripod mounted equipment labelled TIRTL on one side of the intersection.

And a second unit on the other side.

Also connected to an equipment box.

So what was it all for? The green thing labelled ‘TIRTL’ is actually a ‘The Infra-Red Traffic Logger‘ unit:

The transmitter sends two cones of infrared light across the roadway, and the receiver records vehicles as they break and remake these cones. TIRTL transmitter’s infrared cones cross each other and form two straight and two diagonal beam pathways.

When a vehicle crosses the beam pathways, TIRTL records two beam events; it records one from the vehicle breaking and one leaving the beam pathway. These two beams events are recorded for all four beam pathways. Thus, eight timestamped events are generated per axle. The velocity is derived from the timestamps of these beam events.

This velocity data is then compared with the velocity data calculated by the speed camera system itself, as part of the testing and maintenance procedures required under the Road Safety (General) Regulations 2019.

Quarterly:

– Speed accuracy and speed reliability testing
– Camera system asset inventory
– Camera system sensor evaluation

Which leads to the issuing of an annual test certificate for each camera.

Footnote: and another one

I’ve also found the speed and red light camera at the corner of Flinders Street and William Street undergoing testing.

Back in 20114 it was the speed camera which issued the most fines in Victoria, with 20,774 in one quarter. While in 2017 it claimed the dubious honour of Victoria worse location for motorists running red lights, with almost 2000 fines issued in one quarter.

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King William Street and North Terrace northbound

The first example is at the intersection of King William Street and North Terrace in the CBD, and is used by northbound Adelaide Metro route buses headed for the eastern suburbs.

It’s also the key junction of Adelaide’s tram network.

Tram tracks leading in all four directions.

With trams able to turn in four of the eight possible directions.

But this hook turn is also intended to right turning buses clear of road traffic – it actually pre-dated the reintroduction of trams to the intersection.

King William Street and Currie Street eastbound

An even less known hook turn is a few blocks further south, at the intersection of King William Street and Currie Street, and again only applies Adelaide Metro buses – this time turning right for the southern suburbs.

Google Street View

King William Street has both trams and buses running north-south along it.

While Grenfell Street and Currie Street form Adelaide’s main east-west bus corridor.

Leading to the O-Bahn guided busway.

So the reason for the hook turn here doesn’t appear to be to separate trams and road vehicles, but to keep traffic moving along Currie Street – especially given the only turning movement for buses here appears to be empty movements out of the nearby Clarendon Street bus layover area.

Footnote – Adelaide’s ‘Grand Union’

The intersection of King William Street and North Terrace once used to be a full ‘Grand Union’ junction, allowing trams to turn in any direction – a situation that remained until the system was closed in 1958, leaving just the Glenelg tramway.

Photo by , via Wikimedia Commons

Trams returned to North Terrace in 2007, when a 1.2 kilometre extension of the Glenelg line north to Adelaide Railway Station. The intersection at King William Street then became a tramway junction once again in 2018, following the opening of a 900 metre extension east along North Terrace to the Botanic Garden, and a 350 metre extension north along King William Road to the Adelaide Festival Centre.

But one sticking point hit the news in October 2017 – the lack of a right-hand turn for trams from King William Street into North Terrace, thanks to the new junction layout only catering for four out of a possible eight turning movements.

Image via Wikipedia

The Liberal opposition seized on this, promising in March 2018 they would build it at a cost of $37 million, but then scrapped the whole idea in November that year, quoting an engineers report and stating constructions costs had escalated to $47 million, and that new trams costing $70 million would need to be purchased – so the interesection was left as it is today.

From Aurecon’s ‘King William & North Terrace Right Turn Feasibility Report’ for DPTI

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Take a look at this Google Maps view of Melbourne’s western suburbs, where I’ve circled the freeway interchanges.

The interchange of the Western Ring Road and the West Gate Freeway doesn’t look too bad – both freeways appear in the same dark orange colour, with the surrounding local roads displayed in a slightly lighter shade, as are the ramps to Geelong Road.

A bit more confusing is the junction of the Bolte Bridge and West Gate Freeway – the ramps linking the two are shown in a different shade to the freeways themselves, making the map harder to read.

But the junction of the Western Ring Road and Deer Park Bypass is virtually unreadable – the ramps linking the freeways are coloured so light they almost disappear into the grey background.

The same flaw can be found where the Metropolitan Ring Road and Craigieburn Bypass meet in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

Turns out the art and science of drawing maps is hard – that is why the field has a name: cartography.

Footnote

In 2016 American cartographer Justin O’Beirne wrote this piece on changes to Google’s cartography.

Looking at the maps, there are more roads than there once were—and fewer cities.

I wonder what drove these changes?

One thing’s for sure: today’s maps look unbalanced. There’s too many roads and not enough cities.

As well as comparing Google Maps with Apple Maps.

Both are in a race to become the world’s first Universal Map — that is, the first map used by a majority of the global population. In many ways, this makes Google Maps and Apple Maps two of the most important maps ever made.

Who will get there first?

And will design be a factor?

In this series of essays, we’ll compare and contrast the cartographic designs of Google Maps and Apple Maps. We’ll take a look at what’s on each map and how each map is styled, and we’ll try to uncover the biggest differences between the two.

I wonder how often a human at Google actually looks at the maps that their automated systems generate.

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Some examples from Melbourne

The railway cutting at Camberwell was built back in the 1920s, with the red brick walls having been patched up many times in the decades since.

A low steel guard rail prevents cars on the parallel streets ending up on the tracks, with a rusted cyclone fence preventing people from doing the same.

Gardiner station is a modern example where shotcrete and piling forms the cutting walls, but graffiti still covers virtually every surface.

Here parkland separates the railway from the streets that parallel the tracks, so a cyclone fence along the top of the cutting wall has been deemed sufficient protection.

At the other end of the cutting is the railway station car park, so a waist height concrete barrier has been added to prevent motorists ploughing through after confusing the brake and the accelerator.

Over at Mitcham station is a similarly deep railway cutting.

At the Ringwood end, concrete barriers prevent motorists from bunny hopping out of their parking spaces.

But at the city end, a concrete kerb was deemed sufficient protection from motorists, who instead park at parallel to the tracks.

Finally we visit Wyndham Vale station – located on the other side of Melbourne and hewn out of solid basalt.

Here a residential street parallels the tracks, so a solid concrete wall follows the top of the cutting, topped with an even higher welded mesh steel fence.

Do they work?

Turns out concrete barriers are a necessity anywhere cars get near a railway – normal fences aren’t enough to prevent idiot drivers from ending up on the tracks. Here are a few recent Melbourne examples:

• June 2011: drunk driver sends car down embankment at South Yarra
• Unknown: driver overshoots car park at Mitcham station, car falls off platform and onto tracks
• January 2016: driver overshoots ‘T’ intersection at Burnley, car ends up on tracks
• January 2016: driver overshoots ‘T’ intersection at Sunshine, car ends up on tracks
• July 2016: driver escapes car park at Narre Warren station and gets car stuck on tracks

And from elsewhere in Australia:

• July 2014: driver crashes through station fence, car ends up on tracks at Wyong station, NSW
• October 2014: driver sends car down embankment and onto platform at Croydon station, NSW

And in a similar vein is this incident from February 2016 – car lands at bottom of 10 metre deep hole after driver sends it crashing through hoardings at a construction site in Flemington.

Footnote

Have you ever noticed how news reports normally state that a car lost control, not the driver? The language of driving is hard – with accident, not crash the default term – a phenomenon that Streetsblog USA explains further. Even I had to edit my initial draft in order to get across that drivers are the ones that screw up!

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To make room for these new stops, the road on either side has been reduced to a single lane.

These narrow lanes are quite the hazard for clue challenged motorists to negotiate, going by the damage seen at some of the stops.

They also cause difficulties for long vehicles attempting to turn left into from side streets into Elizabeth – I found this bus run into trouble while operating a route 19 tram replacement service, a few weeks after the new stops had opened.

With the tram stop to his left and traffic light posts to his left, the corner was too tight to get a normal bus around, forcing the driver to reverse.

The next bus driver took the corner wider, but still got stuck.

With a third bus driver finally making it around by driving over the tram tracks in Bourke Street.

Eventually the buses avoided the traffic lane altogether, and took to the tram tracks.

Eventually somebody in a position of responsibility realised long vehicles had no chance of making left turns into Elizabeth Street, so ‘No left turn all vehicles over 8.8m long‘ signs were erected on the side streets leading towards the tram stops.

Unfortunately this doesn’t seem to have fixed the problem – many long vehicles still try and fail to navigate the sharp turn.

Footnote

Wondering where the 8.8 metre figure comes from? The Australian Standard for Parking Facilities
AS 2890.1-2004 (Standards Australia 2004) has the following categories of vehicles to consider when designing roads:

• Passenger vehicle (5.2 m)
• Service vehicle (8.8 m)
• Single unit truck/bus (12.5 m)
• Long rigid bus (14.5 m)
• Articulated bus (19 m)
• Prime mover and semi-trailer (19 m)
• Prime mover and long semi-trailer (25 m)
• B-double (25 m)
• B-double (26 m)
• B-triple (35.4 m, was formerly 36.5 m)
• A-double (Type I road train) (36.2 m)
• A-triple (Type II road train) (53.4 m)

Looks like whoever designed the tram stops along Elizabeth Street decided that service vehicles should be able to make the turn, but not buses or semi-trailers.

Further reading

• Austroads Design Vehicles and Turning Path Templates Guide

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In the case Epsom Road in Ascot Vale, stop 30 on route 57 is taking quite a pounding, with cars crashing into the safety zone on a regular basis.

I first noticed damaged to the tram stop back in March 2012, when a damaged fence panel was replaced with plastic safety tape.

Repairs followed and I forgot about it until February 2013, when I found more damage – this time four of the fence panels were gone.

Again, repairs followed, until May 2013 when I found a ute impaled on five metres of the safety zone fence.

Once it was cleaned up, red plastic safety fence replaced the four damaged fence panels, along with a new safety zone sign to replaced that lost in the crash.

August 2013 found another driver ploughing through the safety zone fence, this time taking out five panels, the traffic light post, and a sign.

The end of August saw more repairs completed, but it only lasted a month – three fence panels were taken out by the next wayward motorist.

October 2013 rolled around, and I stumbled upon yet another car impaled on the fence.

One would not want to have been waiting for a tram when the car hit.

A few days later, the fence has been completely repaired.

Until January 2014 when a a record sized crash took out the tram stop – nine fence panels were taken out!

How long until someone manages to take out all 13 panels?

Why are motorists so clueless?

Unlike other tram stops, the one on Epsom Road has a unique feature – no massive concrete prowl to divert wayward cars. In addition, the approach to the tram stop for southbound traffic on Epsom Road is as follows

• Two lanes of traffic become one between Union Road and the Coles supermarket
• Single lane of traffic past tram stop 32
• Two lanes of traffic beneath the Flemington Racecourse railway bridge
• Another merge into one lane of traffic, due to kerbside parking
• Slew to the left, as the parking is replaced by a right turn lane for Flemington Drive
• Dodge the tram stop on the far side of the Flemington Drive intersection

All of the above requires a motorist to be paying attention and follow the road as it slews around the tram stop – but given the intelligence of the average Melbourne driver, no wonder so many fail to do so!

Sources

From “Towards a More Accessible Tram System in Melbourne – challenges for infrastructure design” by Andrea Macdonald and Selby Coxon:

4.1.2. Safety zone

The rest of the stops are safety zones comprising 1/3 network or nominally 400 stops. Waiting and boarding is in a separate fenced refuge in the centre of road adjoining the tram track. Widths vary and there may be a shelter and a timetable. Open railings have been replaced by fencing excluding informal access.

Footnote

Soon after publishing this post a journalist from Melbourne newspaper The Age dropped me a line, which resulted in an article appearing on their website on February 7, 2014. Yarra Trams had the following to say:

Yarra Trams spokesman Simon Murphy conceded that the number of repairs at this stop was “higher than average”.

There isn’t space to install a concrete “prow” to divert traffic, Mr Murphy said, because of the volumes of traffic going in and out of the racecourse.

“This stop is outside the entrance to Flemington Racecourse, presenting a challenge in terms of the space requirements available to install infrastructure,” he said.

Passengers generally wait at the other end of the stop, and Yarra Trams had no reports of passenger injuries.

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The first sign of trouble was these tourists in a Wicked Campervan.

After turning left from Swanston Street, they made it down to other end of the mall, where they met a stationary tram at the Elizabeth Street stop.

With tram works underway at the corner of Bourke and Elizabeth Streets, a traffic controller on duty told the driver they needed to head back the way they came.

While reversing back out of the tram stop, the campervan encountered a confused truck driver, who had already made it half way down the mall.

And behind the truck was a third car – presumably they blindly followed the truck, their mind on auto pilot.

Once the truck driver realised he can’t continue, he executes a three point turn outside Myer.

Leaving the campervan driver to wait for the truck to head in the right direction.

After seeing the traffic jam, the car driver finally realises they can’t continue this way.

They execute a u-turn so they are facing the correct direction.

And the three vehicles then head back out of the Bourke Street Mall

Footnote

On Monday afternoon Daniel Bowen also encountered some equally oblivious drivers in the Bourke Street Mall. Has an extra dose of stupid been given to Melbourne’s drivers this week?

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Victorian police harass SA motorists for not displaying vehicle registration stickers

David Nankervis
Sunday Mail (SA)
September 22, 2012

South Australian motorists are being fined by Victorian police for not displaying registration stickers – despite the labels being abolished more than a year ago.

Concerns that hundreds of Adelaide fans who drove to Melbourne for yesterday’s AFL preliminary final would be targeted by Victorian officers ignorant of SA’s rego laws prompted an appeal on Friday by Public Sector Minister Michael O’Brien to Victorian Police Minister Paul Ryan.

“The South Australian Government would appreciate a reminder being issued by Victoria Police command to officers of the legal situation and their ability to verify registration by entering licence plate details into the electronic database,” Mr O’Brien wrote on Friday.

Yesterday, he said some Victorian police were “causing aggravation and inconvenience for SA motorists” who are not breaking the law: “There is no offence committed and Victorian police should damn well know that and there’s no excuse so it’s a case of harassment.”

Independent State MPs John Darley said he knew of two motorists who were fined in the past four weeks. “I understand they had to get confirmation from motor registration that their cars were registered and send that to Victoria Police to have the fines withdrawn,” Mr Darley said.

Stawell police acting sergeant Mark Stevens admitted yesterday there had been an “anomaly” where SA motorists had been fined after the law change. “We had a statewide email go out (approximately two months ago) saying SA motorists were not required to have a sticker,” he said yesterday.

However ignorance of interstate laws isn’t a one way street, if this fifty year old newspaper article is anything to go by:

Warning on registration labels

The Age
Jan 23, 1963

South Australian police are prohibiting Victorian motorises from crossing the border if their vehicles do not bear current registration labels.

This warning was given by the Mildura RACV representative (Mr K. Wright). He said it was not sufficient for motorists to prove they had sent fees to the Motor Registration Branch.

He said an Irymple man who had paid his registration and third party fees to the RACV for forwarding had been stopped at the border near Renmark recently. Mr. Wright said police would not let him proceed even through he had the RACV receipt to prove that he had paid his registration.

This man had to return to Mildura and pay for interim registration. He would then have to wait six months for a refund of the second outlay.

Mr. Wright said hundreds of Victorians would be crossing the border this week to go to the fourth Test, which behinds on Friday. Unless the registration labels on their vehicles were current they would not be allowed to cross the border he warned.

A case of the boot on the other foot?

Recognising vehicle registrations between Australian states has a long history – the Victorian Motor Car Act 1932 describes a convoluted process for motorists to follow on crossing the border:

The Visitor

72. The driver of a motor car registered in another State of the Commonwealth shall on entering Victoria present such motor car at the nearest practicable police station and produce to the member of the Police Force in charge thereof the current certificate of registration of such motor car and the licence of such driver, and shall lodge with such member of the Police Force an application in the form or to the effect of the form contained in the Fifteenth Schedule hereto for a permit to use such motor car in Victoria.

If such member of the Police Force is satisfied that the motor car will be in Victoria temporarily only and that it will not,be used for the carriage of passengers for hire or goods for hire or in the course of trade whilst in the said State, he may issue to the said driver or owner a permit in the form of the Fifteenth Schedule hereto for the use of such motor car in Victoria for a period not exceeding two months or for such shorter period for which the permit is required : Provided that in each case such motor car is registered in such other State for the period covered by the permit.

Thankfully in the years since, the process for motorists crossing state borders has been simplified – the Victorian Road Safety (Vehicles) Regulations 2009 detail the reciprocal arrangements between states:

Exemption for vehicles temporarily in Victoria

131. Exemption for vehicles temporarily in Victoria

A vehicle is exempt from the requirement to be registered if-

(a) the vehicle is in Victoria temporarily; and

(b) the vehicle is-

(i) registered in another State, a Territory or a foreign country; or

(ii) permitted to be used in accordance with a law in force in another
State or a Territory relating to the use of unregistered vehicles
(including a law relating to trade plates); and

(c) the vehicle is carrying, conspicuously displayed in the required way
and condition, all number plates and labels that it is at that time
required to carry-

(i) for a vehicle registered outside Victoria, in the State, Territory or
country in which it is registered under the law of that State,
Territory or country; or

(ii) for an unregistered vehicle permitted to be used in another State or a
Territory, in that State or Territory under the law of that State or
Territory; and

(d) for an unregistered vehicle permitted to be used in another State or a
Territory, the vehicle is being used in accordance with any conditions
of any permit or other authority that apply in that State or
Territory, to the extent they are capable of being applied to the use
of the vehicle outside that State or Territory.

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Members of various car enthusiasts forums were the first to post about them in late June 2013.

Located on the Monash Freeway where the speed limit changes from 80 km/h to 100 km/h, just south of the High Street exit, the new cameras have been installed on both the inbound and outbound lanes.

Each installation consists of two overhead gantries, each having four cameras fitted to it – presumably one per lane.

The cameras are pointed inwards towards the detection loops, enabling images to be captured of both the front and rear registration places of speeding cars.

An article titled “Safer cameras on the Monash” on the Victoria Government “Cameras Save Lives” website has the following to say on the new speed cameras:

June 28, 2013

A new pole is set to be erected on the Monash Freeway near Karana Place in Glen Iris. This large pole is the site for a new road safety camera, which will be up and running soon.

The pole that this camera is mounted on isn’t the usual kind we have in Victoria though. It’s a mechanism that’s the first of its kind in Australia, and it’s come all the way from England.

This new type of pole (a ‘Crown VMC Pole’) is an achievement in safety and efficiency. The pole has a mechanism that means it can be wound back from the road when the camera is undergoing maintenance.

This ability to wind back from the road means that traffic won’t need to be disrupted for routine maintenance, and normal traffic flow can continue. It’s also safer for camera maintenance workers, who will no longer need to work up high, as the camera can be brought down to a workable level.

Keep an eye out for this new structure on the Monash, as it’s the first site that doesn’t require working at heights, and we hope to see more of them.

I’m sure most motorists disagree with the “hope to see more of them” line!

An update

As of January 2013 the cameras will be switched on:

Monash Freeway cameras enforcing soon
Monday, 23 December 2013 15:11

Victoria Police is preparing to activate fixed speed cameras on the Monash Freeway within the next two weeks.

Two camera sites have been installed to the south of High Street in Glen Iris, detecting vehicles travelling both north and southbound.

The cameras are detecting at the posted speed limit of 100 km/h.

Police are also issuing a warning to drivers after more than 1450 drivers were detected speeding during a 10-day testing period.

Nearly 300 drivers were detected travelling in excess of 10 km/h but less than 15 km/h and more than 100 drivers were detected travelling in excess of 15 km/h but less then 25 km/h.

Twenty one drivers were detected travelling in excess of 25 km/h which normally would have resulted in those drivers losing their licences.

Six of these drivers would be considered hoons after being detected travelling in excess of 45 km/h over the posted speed limit which would have resulted in their cars being impounded if the cameras were active.

Variable message signs will be placed on the roadway from today. They will be placed on each side of the road, prior to the camera sites, and will initially carry a message advising “Speed cameras on soon”.

The cameras will be activated sometime in the week commencing 6 January and at this stage the messaging will change to “Cameras now enforcing”.

The variable messaging signs will stay in place for a month after the activation of the cameras.

Road Policing Command Assistant Commissioner Robert Hill said it’s disappointing that people were still not getting the message about the dangers of speeding.

“Speed is a major factor in about one third of fatal collisions every year, so it is concerning to see some drivers travelling at excessive speeds and putting the lives of all road users at risk,” A/C Hill said.

“It is also concerning to see more than 1000 drivers exceeding the speed limit by less then 10 km/h as we know low level speeding can be just as dangerous as high-level speeding.

“I welcome the activation of these cameras as the research shows that cameras help to reduce death and road trauma on our roads and are an important part of our overall enforcement approach.

“We are giving motorists advanced warning that the cameras are going to be activated soon.

“This is a reminder to motorists to slow down, pay attention and make sure you are driving within the signed speed limit at all times.”

Sergeant Sharon Darcy
Media Officer
VP31760

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Meanwhile trams on routes 55, 57 and 59 get to fly past at their normal pace, thanks to the solid yellow line separating them from the traffic lanes.

On a recent cold and wet Melbourne evening I was onboard a tram travelling north on Flemington Road, when all of a sudden I heard a loud **crunch** from the front of the tram. I opened the window and saw that the traffic outside was moving at walking pace, when a Mercedes with a scratched up front panel passed the tram while tooting their horn. Meanwhile our tram driver left the cab and went back to talk to the driver of the tram behind. After conversing for a bit, he checked for damage at our end, had an unsuccessful attempt to find what we had hit, before we set off on our way.

The tram caught up to the car at the next set of traffic lights, where I saw the damage.

A close up view of the scratched up alloy wheel and front quarter panel.

Not having see the actual car before it was hit, I’m going to assuming the car somehow ended up foul of the solid yellow line along the tram lane, so got cleaned up when our tram came past.

Tram lanes and the law

VicRoads has this to say about the tram priority measures on Flemington Road, between Racecourse Road and Royal Parade:

Tramways
Tramways were introduced as a new road rule in Victoria on 9 November 2009, as part of the changes to Victoria’s Road Safety Road Rules. Tramways help trams run on time and improving safety and the reliability of public transport.

What does a Tramway look like?
Tramways have overhead signs and raised dividing strips or two yellow lines beside the tram tracks.

How do you drive in a Tramway?
A driver is not allowed to drive in a tramway. If it is necessary, you may drive in a tramway only to avoid an obstacle and without delaying a tram.

Section 79 of the Road Safety Road Rules 2009 also has this to say:

76. Keeping clear of trams travelling in tram lanes etc.

(1) A driver must not move into the path of an approaching tram travelling in a tram lane, or on tram tracks marked along the left side of the tracks by a broken or continuous yellow line parallel to the tracks.

Penalty: 3 penalty units. Note Approaching, left, tram and tram tracks are defined in the dictionary, and tram lane is defined in rule 155.

(2) If a driver is in the path of an approaching tram travelling in a tram lane, or on tram tracks marked along the left side of the tracks by a broken or continuous yellow line parallel to the tracks, the driver must move out of the path of the tram as soon as the driver can do so safely.

Penalty: 3 penalty units.

Unfortunately for tram passengers delayed behind ignorant motorists, the above laws don’t permit Yarra Trams to install bulldozer blades to their fleet to force cars out of the way – all road users still have a responsibility to avoid a collision:

If there is a danger that you might collide with another vehicle or person, you must slow down and stop if necessary to avoid the collision. For example, if a driver at a GIVE WAY sign, a STOP sign or a red light does not give way, the other driver must slow down or stop to avoid a collision. If you have stopped you must remain stopped until it is safe to proceed.

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