 Well good afternoon thank you for your time. What I'd like to do is read into the record the statement that I put out and from my perspective I don't think I can add too much to that but after that simply answer any questions you have or endeavor to anyway. Today I was issued with a traffic infringement notice for exceeding the speed limit of 60 kilometers an hour by 10 kilometers an hour when traveling at 70 kilometers an hour in Main Street Kangaroo Point at 8.25 p.m. on Friday the 3rd of February 2012. At the time I was driving my contract based service vehicle and was traveling to police headquarters in relation to service related matters. I accept responsibility for this infringement and today have paid the traffic infringement notice which is a fine of $133 in one demerit point off my driver's license record. I was aware that the section of roadway was a 60 kilometer an hour zone that was not consciously or deliberately aware of exceeding the speed limit at the time and whilst it is no excuse I can only attribute this breach on my part to a lapse of concentration at the time. The detection was from a fixed speed camera and whilst not specifically aware of where it was I was aware that it there was one in that general area. I sincerely regret this occurrence and I apologize to my colleagues in the Queensland Police Service and the broader community. I also acknowledge the support of the media to myself and the Queensland Police Service in our combined efforts to reduce the road toll and might I say that's one point that I'm particularly disappointed in myself about that the police department and myself personally have had wonderful support from the media in terms of this very worthwhile area and again that's regrettable. The most important issue for me though is that all of our efforts mine and many many others that that work in relation to endeavouring to reduce the road toll continues unabated and despite this breach I am and I remain genuinely committed to reducing the road toll and I hope to obviously stay involved in that area even after I retire ultimately from the Queensland Police Service. That in essence is the statement that I've put out both internally and publicly and as I said I'll endeavour to take any questions you have. Commissioner did you see the camera flash at all or did it just come as a surprise when you got the ticket in Mark? No I didn't see the camera flash I had no awareness whatsoever of this and it was brought to my notice that there might be an issue last Friday but that further enquiries would have to be made this week which they were. Yesterday those enquiries established that my vehicle had in fact driven you know through the speed camera at a speed of 70 on the 60 zone and the matter was handled internally by the Deputy Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner Ian Stewart. He asked me yesterday if I had been the driver at the time which I had so subsequently the processing of this matter continued. Late yesterday afternoon I was advised that a traffic infringement notice would be issued in all probability this morning which it was and when it was issued I comprised the statement that I've just read out to you and paid the ticket as well. Yes certainly I received one in 1998 which was the ESP cameras came in when I was the Assistant Commissioner in Far North Queensland based at Cairns. I received one in 2004 which wasn't for speeding that was for following two closely I can explain that further if you wish. I received one in 2009 while I was in holidays in New South Wales in terms of a similar type of speed. This is the only speeding ticket that I have received in Queensland in the 11 years and three months that I've been the Police Commissioner. I'd say it could be better it's not perfect but I will say to you I want to be really careful here that under no circumstances do I want you to think that in any way I'm making excuses but on every occasion in particularly this last occasion I have not consciously deliberately intentionally ever been speeding. It's been circumstances where I've either been in a zone and as the woman was in Cairns where I thought the speed limit was a certain speed limit and was wrong but I give you an assurance that I have not consciously intentionally or deliberately exceeded the speed limit or broken the traffic regulations at any time. I hope the people will be understanding in terms of that space that this is human error on my part and wasn't deliberate or intentional. I recognise though and I'm very acutely aware of the fact that I am in a fortunate and privileged position and that when I talk about the importance of not speeding I genuinely believe that and believe in it and that there is an expectation of me and so there should be that's higher than it would be for others so I can only repeat that I would ask for people's acceptance that this was a genuine mistake and wasn't intentional or deliberate. Oh enormously so. That goes with the aspect of being in this fortunate and quite privileged position to represent the 15,000 people in the Queensland Police Service and to have the support of the media particularly in terms of getting the rates safety message out so I feel as though I've let you down, I feel as though I've let my colleagues down, I feel as though I've let the community down but that's happened I can't get back and change that now as much as I'd like to of course. Media conference after they've had a 10 period an hour speeding ticket though. Yes look and I'm not a hypocrite and can I say to you that I have said in the past that it requires concentration when you're driving and I have said in the past that with modern motor vehicles it's very easy to go from 60 to 70 that can happen momentarily but I've also said in the past that you know you need to concentrate on your driving and that we as a broader community and I still believe this need to change our driving habits and we're a long way away from doing that but I think that that change hopefully will occur into the future and but what I mean by that is we need to be in a space and I haven't said a very good example of this obviously on this case but we need to be in a space where we see the maximum speed limits as the maximum speed limits so that if it is a 60 speed limit if we're doing 58 or 59 we need to be thinking well you know I'm getting close to the maximum speed limit I think it's probably true to say though that that isn't the case in our contemporary society and that's where I think the improvement needs to go to in the future. Is this a sort of press conference you've sort of dreaded all day I think that prepare to come and do this? Obviously it is in a sense look the worst thing that can happen for me as the police commissioner is when one of my people has killed a badly injured that's that's unite me you know that that happens and sadly given the dangerous work of policing that does happen from time to time so I want to keep this in perspective as well but it's always been a fear of mine that that this could happen one day you know I mean I have hands-free but I'm on the phone a lot when I drive and again I'm not I don't recall if I was on the phone at the time it wouldn't matter if I was or I wasn't it's still no excuse of course but it is something that that I've been mindful of and concerned about that that one day that could happen and of course now it has happened you know. Does this make the road dominance harder for you to sell would you pull back and leave that to someone else with I guess an unblemished driving record? Look I would hope not my commitment remains absolute and and I can assure you as genuine and sincere I hope that people will accept that I am genuine and sincere about that and that what has happened here is that I've made a mistake an unintentional mistake but nonetheless a mistake I've done two things I've paid the fine and I have told you about it you know which I believe I should have I don't there's nothing special in my doing that in either count you know I mean I've got no excuse and so I should pay the fine and give them again the fortunate position that I have and privileged position that I have you've got to take the the bad with the good and it was right and proper to to get public about it certainly doesn't give me any joy but coming back to your specific question I would hope not and I would hope that people because I want to continue personally to support this cause I want the police department and I believe we will absolutely support this cause it's a really important one and the significant thing about it is it's an area where we can make change and we have seen change occur and I think that changes evolutionary and I think it continued to get we can still do better than than where we are at the moment and where we were not last year but the year before in 2010 was quite remarkable for a state our size in terms of the rate on I think that that is that goes with the territory for all of us now we have rules we have laws and I think that we have reasonable tolerances in Queensland in terms I think the enforcement of our traffic regulations is done with a sense of balance and fairness and reasonable tolerance so it's not I guess appropriate then to say that we feel sorry for people we're clear in our messaging we say and I have said that we should stick to the speed limits we say and I have said that excessive speed puts you at greater risk of being involved in a traffic crash I believe those things to be true so I can't retreat from them now do you usually have a driver yeah quite often yeah yeah I this was probably a slightly unusual day and on this particular day I didn't there was someone else with me in the vehicle but perhaps I should explain that we'd been at Kedron and I was giving I wanted to return to headquarters I'd started my day in Cairns that day and of course as you'll recall that was the time when the floodwaters were heading towards St George and it was over that weekend that from memory the evacuation order was given I wanted to come back to headquarters I was giving a lift to a senior sergeant he wanted to go back to headquarters as well I was going to go on the inner city bypass but it was blocked off so as a result you can't turn around there so I ended up in the Clem seven took the East Brisbane exit came back around and ended up of course on the Story Bridge so I perhaps should explain to you what I was doing in Main Street Kangaroo Point whilst traveling from Kedron to Brisbane the headquarters here yes that was a minor traffic accident I bumped into the back of the vehicle in front of me it it was one where because I was driving a police car police vehicle has to be reported under our rules it was adjudicated the adjudication was that I'd been following the other car too closely I was given a ticket for that and I paid the ticket oh that's possible but again that's no excuse lots of people have things on their mind when they're driving vehicles and one of the points I make over and over again is that when you're driving you should concentrate on your driving you know and that should be primary in in in your thinking you know and that's true it is you know so it may well have been the case that I was thinking about other things and that's quite possible but again there's no excuse whether you're on the phone or not could you see a day in Queens they wear hands-free phone may not be allowed just because you are concentrating on the phone whether you're on hands-free or not you know for what it's worth I think that's a really good question and look I don't know what the research says on that I know that sometimes I live here at night and I go home and it's about a half hour drive I live on the south side and I'm on the phone from the moment I leave here to the moment I get home and sometimes I wonder about that myself that that is even hands-free justifiable in terms of driving and does using a hands-free phone impair at all your driving concentration the jury is still out on that but it may well be that into the future there is it at the moment it's quite legal to do that and certainly for many of us and certainly myself it's an incredibly valuable use of your time you know but it may well be that at some time in the future research indicates that even hands-free does reduce your driving concentration and legislators then would have decisions to make in that space well no they're your words not mine all I'm saying is that that for many of us you know hands-free mobile phone is a wonderful use of time that enables you you know to to use your phone while you're driving and in my case I'm often getting calls and you know being briefed on things and and that aspect is relevant all I'm saying is that to my understanding and I might be corrected on this but to my understanding there is no definitive research that says that using hands-free mobile phone impairs your driving but that if that if in the future there is research that proves that be on any shadow of a doubt then that would be a matter for our legislators to decide as to whether they would ban hands-free any mobile phone use in a vehicle it's a um Holden statesman and no it's a six no I've got one point which is the point I've got today no I don't I want them to is as strange as it might seem in my circumstances what I want people to do is to drive to the speed limits I want what I would like to see is ultimately over time that we change your driving behaviors but I truly think that's years away what I would like to see is a situation where people truly drive to the speed limit and we don't have that bit of give and take that we seem to have now and that's just not for me on this occasion but that's generally um so I think we're a way away from that but but why I believe in this is if I can I just explain to you why why I think this is so important and that is this speed cameras came in in 1998 in 1997 the road tolling Queensland was 360 in 1998 the speed cameras came in it was 279 so it was 81 less than it was in 1997 in 2010 we introduced covert speed cameras and in 2009 the road toll was 330 and in 2010 it was 249 again 81 less than it was the year before now you look at that and you think why how could that be and the only possible reason would be in my view because in 1998 most people slowed down because of the introduction of speed cameras and in 2010 people I think again slowed down because we've brought in covert or undercover type police mobile speed cameras because you just can't have those sort of reductions you know without there being some reason so to me the message that sends us we all slowed down you know and stuck to the speed limits then the road toll would reduce and yeah that's my answer that is I have made a mistake here I acknowledge that I deeply regret it and my point as I mentioned earlier it wasn't done deliberately intentionally or knowingly but I should have been concentrating better and I accept that question I guess a separate but related issue this is obviously a traffic incident that the police have taken action you know immediately and there's been quite a public expose I suppose of it we were on the story yesterday of an incident in Woodridge three weeks ago where a truck and a car were involved in a road raid incident I suppose and the truck's clearly visible banging into this particular car three or so times that video the information with the statements been handed to police and there's been nothing happened in that three week period is it slightly hypocritical I guess that something happens immediately today and yet it's such a major incident you know which a car's been total while it's put at risk nothing's happened could I come back to you with more detail on that but my my understanding of that and I don't have a comprehensive knowledge of that matter is that it may well be that identification is the current issue there obviously we believe we know who the owner of that vehicle is but that's not enough and that matter is under investigation and it may well be that identification is the issue there so I wouldn't want you to think that nothing happened and isn't being done but obviously we must work in within the boundaries of what we're able to do but can I come back to you with more detail on that yeah but I had just the issue was who was driving the car is that perhaps the hold up in that's that was my point thank you that that that matter is being investigated we believe we know who the owner of that vehicle is that's not the critical point there the critical point is who was the driver and then being able to identify that person and and it's my understanding that that may be the difficulty but I'd like to confirm that and if I could come back to you afterwards on that yeah and if can I say to you that our processing in terms of these matters is speeded up and my understanding is that other people who would have got speed camera infringements around the same time as I did are also receiving their tickets in the next day or so as well okay was there any other matter that anyone would like to raise thank you for being here today and if there is any follow-up matter please contact police