A Discussion and Critique of Propaganda Agent's Comments
"For God's sake, let us freely hear both sides!" Jefferson- Letter, 1814
Unluckily motorists have had no voice until recently thus meaning that extremely unbalanced reporting in relation to motorists' issues has been rife. As a result Australians have been literally submerged in propaganda that pretends that booking safe drivers for speeding provides a community benefit.
We trust that the media will fulfil their ethical duty in relation to provide balanced reporting forthwith. We will be posting our press releases here in the future so that you can check up on the ethics of the media in your area.
Traditionally in the media braking distance comparisons was the focus. However in recent times speed kills freaks have added a number of weapons to their arsenal. One good place to find examples is in columns where 'brave' anonymous editorial writers try to persuade readers that an unpopular viewpoint is justified - while sheltering behind anonymity in case it doesn't work.
Another problem has been articles providing the less popular viewpoint without other articles counterbalancing. For example, an article by the "ubiquitous" (Mike Carlton's description) Harold Scruby in the Sydney Morning Herald (19/12/98) stated the following."The double demerit points scheme for the Christmas/New Year holiday period is about to begin. It has been extraordinarily successful in persuading drivers to slow down."THE SECOND LAST TIME IT WAS USED THERE WAS A RECORD NUMBER OF SPEEDING BOOKINGS "Since its introduction in 1997, there has been a 23 percent lower fatality rate when it operates than in other periods." (Mike Carlton's comments about collecting figures that only indicate that you've collected them comes to mind. How did the periods they are used compare with other times of year before the double demerit points? Has there been any change since the double demerit points were introduced?) At the time of writing, the most recent time the double demerit point scheme was utilised was the Christmas/New Year period (98-99) and I'm informed that there was a record number of deaths in that period in NSW.
Also, the West Australian newspaper (25/9/98) byline Browen Clune, in an article arguing against the raising of WA speed limits, reported that the road toll in the Northern Territory was 3 times that of West Australia.SAY WHAT!? There are a few rough roads in the territory, drunk driving isn't exactly under control, and they did introduce speed cameras last year thus raising the road toll substantially but 3 times the WA road toll with their small population- yeah right! Naturally I checked and it was nothing of the sort.
Finally, also regarding the NT road toll, the NSW Transport Minister Scully responded to January 1999 letters to the editor which compared the NSW Christmas/New Year period road toll with the low NT road toll for the same period (NT has no speed limit on *almost all* open roads). He commented that the NT road toll had gone up in 1998 while the NSW one had gone down. It is submitted that that fact supports the anti-speeding ticket argument of his adversaries because speed cameras were introduced to the NT in 1998 on roads that do have speed limits and 1998 saw the imposition of an 110kph limit on the Stuart Highway.
Prior to our formation the only way of addressing the propaganda available to motorists was letters to the editor. However they don't always get published. The letters on this page were sent to newspapers and remained unpublished. They relate to particular state issues. Therefore if you are a motorist in a state of Australia you might find it interesting to see what wasn't published.
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