Letter to the Editor: The great racer-free mirage

DEAR News Of The Area,

I WRITE today not to question the existence of common sense, but to mourn its absence – particularly in the curious case of the police car parked within the dragons’ teeth of our local high school zone, on Boundary Street.

Commonly an out of ‘school time’ raceway for bikes and cars.

We’ve got flashing lights. We’ve got signage.

We’ve got road markings so bold they could guide a goose through fog.

And now, we’ve got a police car sitting visibly in the zone like a cheese cube in a rat trap – except the flap’s missing, and the rat’s already sprinted past.

Let’s be honest: the goal isn’t awareness.

That’s already sold by the signage.

The goal is catching the racer – the one who ignores the 40km/h limit and treats the school zone like a drag strip.

But with the police car parked in plain sight, the racer simply doesn’t race.

So what are we catching? Applause?

Wouldn’t it be more effective to deploy an unmarked car, tucked quietly where the racers actually run?

Or better yet, install a speeding camera – one that works 24/7/365, catching every offender while freeing officers for duties that don’t involve sitting in a flashing box of deterrence theatre.

If the goal is safety, let’s be strategic.

If the goal is optics, let’s admit it.

But if the goal is catching racers, then the current setup is like baiting a trap with a neon sign that says “TRAP HERE.”

I propose a community survey – door to door or via this very paper – to identify speeding hotspots.

Let’s use stealth, not spectacle.

Logic, not theatre.

And maybe, just maybe, we’ll catch the rat instead of waving at it.

Yours in laminated disbelief,
Miles FORTESQUE,
Macksville.