SPEED TRAPS
I AM a visitor to Tasmania on my fifth trip to your lovely state. I am annoyed about a blatant speed trap at the town of St Helens.
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I was driving along Binalong Bay Road towards St Helens on an 80 kilometre-per-hour road, negotiating a bend in the road.
I was confronted with a 50 km/h sign.
I immediately commenced braking but as the sign was close to the bend I went through the sign at approximately 65 km/h and was confronted by a police Constable who emerged from the trees about 50 metres from the speed sign with a speed camera and pulled me over.
I remained polite and non-committal to the Constable and received the infringement.
Upon coming back home in New South Wales, I checked the law in Tasmania and found that drivers are allowed a 300-metre buffer zone to attain the speed limit if there are no warning signs of the change, in which there was not a warning sign.
I have requested a removal of the infringement warning but have been refused.
I think this is not a "good look" for a holiday state to have cops lurking in the trees in impossible speed locations to book motorists from any area.
If the Constable had been outside the 300-metre buffer zone then "fair cop" but not so, her actions were purely "speed trap".
John Mace, Moss Vale, NSW.
FUTURE OF LAUNCESTON
HOUSES, houses and more houses.
It seems to be the single problem that both the council and state government are focused on.
Yet, if we do raise Launceston's population from its current level (about 68,000) to over 100,000 then we are going to face far larger (and costly) infrastructure problems.
These include traffic congestion, more gun crime, more strain on the Launceston General Hospital, more schools, more pollution, more flooding, not to mention gutter-to-gutter housing from Legana to the airport.
They cite tourism but tourists come here to see the natural wonders (for one night), visit a restaurant and then they rush off to the Tamar wineries, attractions on the East and North Coast and Hobart.
That doesn't help our local economy.
They definitely won't be interested in getting stuck in traffic and seeing a mini-Sydney.
We need to see more green attractions, hot air ballooning, horse riding, cycling routes, walking trails, farm stays, co-op growers, artisans, a heritage centre with colonial and Indigenous histories on display and maybe even a space observatory with nightly astrological tours.
None of these have been considered by the City of Launceston council for the Future of Relbia project - just bulldozers building more houses for developers to get rich.
Surely we can do better than that?
Anthony Lowe, Relbia.
Tasmanians will soon be able to travel by e-scooter
There will soon be a new way to travel to and from destinations with e-scooters set to be implemented in Tasmania before summer. Under the changes, e-scooters and other transport devices such as e-skateboards and hoverboards will be able to be used by both commercial operators and private users on footpaths, shared paths and local roads.
Jeff Darby: I recently scooted around Sydney with my son checking out the sights. Four hours or so - try do that on foot!
Rodney Goodsell: Most states have them, except Tasmania. Too many whingers for it to happen and we are supposed to be a tourist state. What a joke.
Jerry Virieux: Scooters are the future. On the mainland they are used in so many places saving people lots of money by using them compared to cars and motorbikes.
Tanya Murfet: They have these in Adelaide and around the suburbs over there they are great.
Barb Atkins: Quite a few incidents in Brisbane. Hundreds of them here and new company starting soon. They'll end up dumped in the Tamar or the Derwent.
Rachel Marshall: Great initiative - Tassie is perfect for this.
Olivia Nettleford: They should not be allowed on footpaths. If they are going to be used they should have to use the bicycle lanes. Footpaths are for foot-traffic pedestrians and we don't want to be run over by these, bikes or people on skateboards, scooters etc.
Jase Evans: They are a disaster, people just dump them anywhere. No consideration of others, disability, elderly or blind.
Bev Ernst: Horrible things! Nearly been hit twice in Brisbane by unsupervised kids and adults going too fast. When they come from behind can't hear them!
Daniel Chong: Birchalls blockie route will never be the same.
You wouldn't muzzle barking dogs, so let cats roam free
A letter in The Examiner suggested that cats should be kept indoors as to not be a nuisance to neighbours. I would ask the author to consider whether he or she thinks it would also be appropriate to force dogs to wear restrictive muzzles at all times?
Andrew Gray: Cats are amazing hunter/killers, our small native wildlife is decimated by them. Lock them up all the time.
Darren Reed: Dogs don't generally stalk native wildlife, assuming you're a responsible pet owner of course.
Shane Rogers: It amazes me how people still let their cats roam now that they can be legally trapped on someone else's property. Stupidity at it's finest!
Allan Baldwin: Dogs don't walk over my car of a night. Cat owners should keep them in their own yard. A dog wanders the street, it gets picked up, and straight to the pound.
Katrina Clark: Cats live longer, healthier lives confined to indoors and/or an outdoor cat enclosure. If more people kept their cats in I'd imagine there would be less for dogs to bark at.
Amy Blair: If you still want your cat outside, build/buy a cat run.