POLICE are wearing camouflage

[DjPete]

POLICE are wearing camouflage to nab speeding motorcyclists in the Yarra Ranges. Officers in jungle greens have been hiding behind bushes to trap hoons racing along the winding roads.

The ranges are a favourite with motorbike racers, who post videos on YouTube.

Sgt John Morgan, officer in charge of Operation Surreptitious, said it was difficult to police the region using regular tactics.

"The road is so narrow there's nowhere a marked car can sit with the speed camera," he said.

"And if a police car takes a speed from an oncoming vehicle, the drivers know there's not many places we can turn around and give pursuit.

"So there was an element of riders and drivers who really saw the area as a law-free zone."

Dozens of videos posted on YouTube show motorcyclists, with video cameras mounted on their instrument panels, clocking up to 170km/h in the Yarra Ranges.

One rider describes the Black Spur as "the best road in the world", while others videos show motorbikes doing "monos" -- riding with the front wheel raised -- and overtaking cars in front of oncoming traffic.

Operation Surreptitious began in early March and the Yarra Ranges traffic management unit has already nabbed 26 speeding vehicles over nine days, including a motorbike clocked at 190km/h.

Police have impounded eight motorbikes and one car.

One officer hides in the bushes taking traffic speeds with a laser speed gun, while a police car waits further down the road.

"It may look a bit silly, but at the end of the day it means we're catching motorists driving at extremely dangerous speeds," Sgt Morgan said.

A police spokeswoman said Operation Surreptitious was the first of its kind in the state and was specifically designed for the Yarra Ranges area.

Source HeraldSun
Orig story here

[Gnarbunkle99]

Some bring it on themselvs by posting on YouTube.

[Speedzalot]

I have to agree with you Gnarbs

[RaZ]

yep they do, but how is THIS going to make the road safer? Anyone care to explain? It is a 100kph zone

[Gnarbunkle99]

I don't think that it will make the road safer, might make some think twice before doing it though.

[Louwai]

It's always a knee-jerk reaction, or a revenue raising excersize or both.
We have the similar issue over in the Astronomy village with the green laser pointers.
They are absolutely fantastic for pointing out things in the sky when you are doing an educational gathering etc.
Then you get the wankers that point at the planes & at footy games etc.
Now the Gov are banning them & anyone who wants to use a pointer must have a permit. (which costs money)

Here's a comment from a guy on the astro forum who is very much into industrial lasers.

One has to understand that laser beams are not perfectly parralel. If that would be the case then one would never be able to point it through an airplane's window let alone hit the pilot's eye (what about the other eye?).
Reality is that at say one kilometer distance the beam width is perhaps one meter or more.
Now do the maths: When you expand a beam from something like one milimeter to something like one meter how much do you reduce the intensity of that beam? A young pilot's pupils add up to less then one square cm while the beam cross section is close to 8000 square centimeters.
So out of a 100mW beam the pilot's eyes would capture short flashes at an intensity of 0.01mW, hardly enough to cause harm. I said short flashes because
one would need superhuman pointing ability to maintain that sort of aim.

I hate bans of any kind. Lock up some of these idiots but don't ban the lasers.

And he is describing a 100mW laser.
The average green laser pointer is only about 20mW.

[RaZ]

I don't think that it will make the road safer, might make some think twice before doing it though.

doing .. what? 200kph? :)

seriously, I think its just driving bike riders away & that means less cash income for the townships out that way :(

[BUSGO]

Believe it or not, but when I started riding bikes, the Pacific Highway from Newcastle to Sydney was set at 60MPH speed limit (100KPH) for nearly its entire length.
Even after the F3 freeway was opened the speed limit on the old road was still left at that speed, and it was quite safe to travel at or near that speed so long as you slowed down for the slow bends that were clearly marked with speed advisory signs.
Unfortunately those riders that thought that they are too good to slow down and subsequently came to grief, have caused the limit to be eroded over the years in small increments to the now stupid 60kph limit that exists on a perfectly good road.

If many more come to grief on the stretch around Mt White, the RTA have promised to reduce the speed even further and to install speed restricting devices such as speed humps all over the place.
These same style of riders will then move to another good bit of road and make that their next killing field. (The Putty Rd is already under threat with simillar restrictions being discussed by the local council).

[hgazbus]

The Putty has already been reduced to 80 KPH for most of its length. Won't be long before we find a few 60 KPH areas up around Colo Hts.

The more that riders full off their bike and get hurt the lower the speed limits will go.

[crumpy]

Believe it or not, but when I started riding bikes, the Pacific Highway from Newcastle to Sydney was set at 60MPH speed limit (100KPH) for nearly its entire length.
Even after the F3 freeway was opened the speed limit on the old road was still left at that speed, and it was quite safe to travel at or near that speed so long as you slowed down for the slow bends that were clearly marked with speed advisory signs.
Unfortunately those riders that thought that they are too good to slow down and subsequently came to grief, have caused the limit to be eroded over the years in small increments to the now stupid 60kph limit that exists on a perfectly good road.

If many more come to grief on the stretch around Mt White, the RTA have promised to reduce the speed even further and to install speed restricting devices such as speed humps all over the place.
These same style of riders will then move to another good bit of road and make that their next killing field. (The Putty Rd is already under threat with simillar restrictions being discussed by the local council).

spot on ray as long as they (cops) stay on their side of the mountains .Government think NSW stands for Newcastle Sydney Woolongong.nothing that they promise ever comes over the hill except fuel price increases.

[Pug]

The stretch of road between Healsville and Marysville is pretty much 100km/h all the way except for a few townships, including all the way through the Black Spur. I don't know why people can't be happy with that (given how tight the corners are). It does get annoying though when you're stuck behind slow moving traffic - no 'legal' places to overtake anymore.

[Mutha]

I don't believe it's about revenue raising at all, when it comes to the spurs.
Its about people going to fast for there own good and ignoring the safety of other road users.
Every time I have been up there, I have seen bikes down on the side of the road.
I know of 2 people that have been killed up there and that's 2 too many for me.

[RaZ]

and thats the main problem :/ I was told the coppers were sitting on a down hill run where its the only place to over take on the spur. pricks, more chance of getting someone on a down hill as well.

[NEMESIS]

All i can say is "Operation Surreptitious "

Is the gayest operation name i have ever heard.
Yeh....
Operation surreptitious!
That will scare em!

[ROD]

Had to look at that operation name twice Nem Why do people have the camera set on there dash as well lift it up a bit so you cant see the dash (or is this a case of look at me see how fast i can go)