For those in Perth always looking for a better, faster, cheaper way

Friday, January 10, 2014

Top 10 Speed Cameras for Catching Perth Hoons

Police have released statistics about how speed cameras last year helped catch Perth hoons last year. 268 people were caught by speed cameras exceeding the speed limit by 45km/h or more. Of those 268, 41 were caught on the Mitchell Freeway near Innaloo while 37 were caught on Kwinana Freeway near Baldivis. These figures obviously do not include the hoons caught by police patrols. 
Hoon offences detected by speed cameras in 2013:
1: Mitchell Fwy, Innaloo near Karrinyup Rd = 41 offences
2: Kwinana Fwy, Baldivis near Mundijong Rd = 37 offences
3: Tonkin Hwy, Champion Lakes near Corfield St = 35 offences
4: Reid Hwy, Mirrabooka near Mirrabooka Av = 30 offences
5: Roe Hwy, Willetton near South St = 23 offences
6: Ennis Av, Port Kennedy near Royal Palm Dr = 23 offences
7: Tonkin Hwy, Cloverdale near Leach Hwy = 23 offences
8: Ennis Av, Port Kennedy near Port Kennedy Dr = 21 offences
9: Kwinana Fwy, Baldivis near Safety Bay Rd = 18 offences
10: Paganoni Rd, Karnup near Marlock Pl = 17 offences

During the 16-day double demerit Christmas period, WA Police managed to scan 3,382,736 drivers. From that, 23,657 were charged with 13,378 caught for speeding by a speed camera and 4,935 by a patrol vehicle. 630 people were also caught for using a mobile phone whilst driving by the new undercover police motorcycles. 

Thursday, January 9, 2014

How Will You Survive Perth's 43C Saturday?


Perth is expecting 43C on Saturday but today in a mine site in Panawonica, the temperature has already hit 50C at 1:37pm. The question for all of Perth is how we will survive this Saturday? Will we be heading to shopping centres or the beach? Or is the forecast enough to justify the purchase of an air conditioner in the next few days?

The Bureau of Meterology is concerned about how Perth will cope and have issued the following tips. 

How to prevent harm from the heat:
• Drink plenty of fluid (not caffeinated, energy or alcoholic drinks).
• Find a cool place, in the shade or in a well ventilated shelter with fans or air-conditioning.
• Cool down periodically in water (swimming pool, bath or shower).
• Wear lightweight, light-colour, loose fitting clothing and head protection.
• Limit physical activity and avoid exercising in the heat of the day.
• Apply effective sunscreen (SPF 30+) if outside.
• Monitor the colour of your urine (dark yellow is bad, clear urine is good).
• Remember “Slip, Slop, Slap” at all times when outside. 

Signs to be on the look out for:
• increased heart rate
• nausea and vomiting
• dizziness and feeling faint
• confusion
• headaches
• muscle cramps and weakness
• urinating less often.
What to do should you develop any of the signs above:
• Call an ambulance on 000 for life threatening signs.
• Rest in a cool well ventilated area.
• Drink plenty of fluid (consider clear juice or low sugar sports drinks).
• Apply cool wet cloths to skin.

Monday, January 6, 2014

How to Find the Cheapest Everything

With so many shops making their product prices online, it has become increasingly easy to create some interesting comparisons. There are websites that help you to compare prices for books and DVDs (even calculating the shipping for you) such as Booko (usually you'll find BookDepository is the cheapest). There are many similar websites such as Webjet and Adioso which help you to compare air ticket prices. For electronics, there's StaticIce and Shopbot. 

But the most interesting websites are those that help you spot a bargain the moment a shop changes their price. Mildsurprise is one of those websites which allow you to see what are the biggest discounted items in the last 24 hours, week, fortnight or even the past year. You can sort the list by price drop or percentage drop. You can even look up a particular item and see how the prices have fluctuated in various stores (and which stores have actually increased their price!)

Then there is the price watcher for Amazon, an interestingly named website called CamelCamelCamel which helps you track the price history of any product on Amazon. Do you know of other useful comparison websites that you love exploring? Let us know.