Camouflaged cops catch speeding riders

The twisty section of blacktop that cuts its way through the tall, damp forests between Healesville and Marysville, known to locals as the Black Spur, is a favourite haunt of weekend riders searching for a brief shot of adrenalin.

But with the road's speed limit recently reduced to 80km/h, and motorcycle-related fatalities on the rise, many riders have recently found themselves on the wrong side of the law.

And while that might sound fair enough to the law-abiding among us, the tactics police from the Yarra Ranges Traffic Management Unit are using to catch speeding riders seems anything but fair.

Dressed in camouflage gear and khaki face paint, police covertly position themselves high above the road in ferny foxholes, laying in wait to nab speeding riders through a fast-flowing section of the 'Spur with hand-held lasers.

Once they've clocked a reading, the shrouded sleuths radio ahead to a four-wheeled officer who intercepts the unsuspecting rider a couple of kays down the road.

In one weekend, police managed to detect 81 riders in excess of the posted speed limit, crossing double lines and overtaking when unsafe -- some having their bikes impounded under the state's strict anti-hoon legislation.

It might sound a little sneaky, but police say the underhanded tactics are the only way to catch speeding riders on the narrow, snaking road where traditional measures are ineffective. The Black Spur is overrepresented in its share of two-wheeled accidents, a statistic police hope surreptitious measures will in time help reduce.