Mobile speed camera warnings could soon disappear

A senior New South Wales bureaucrat has called for the scrapping of mobile speed camera warning signs, arguing they do not deter most motorists from speeding.

Auditor General Margaret Crawford recently completed a review of the state government’s Mobile Speed Camera (MSC) program, which was tabled in parliament last week.

The review found there weren’t enough cameras on the road and they were too easy to spot by motorists because of compulsory warning signs.

“There is limited evidence that the current MSC program in NSW has led to a behavioural change in drivers by creating a general network deterrence,” the review stated.

"General speed surveys indicate 28 per cent of drivers travel at up to 10km/h over the limit and over 5 per cent, or one in 20 drivers, at more than 10km/h over.

"However less than 0.1 per cent, or one in 1,000 drivers, that pass a mobile speed camera in NSW is fined.”

Unlike some other states including Victoria, which does not alert motorists of an upcoming roadside speed camera, it is mandatory in NSW to have two warning signs before the detection vehicle and one afterwards.

The report noted that this “reduces the perceived risk of detection, thereby limiting the ability of MSCs to moderate driver behaviour at other locations”.

The review also found that, although there are 1024 locations approved for use in NSW, only 650 were used in the six months to December, 2017. When the mobile speed camera program started in 2012, then Roads Minister Duncan Gay said the cameras would be operating at about 2500 locations.

“This means there is a current shortfall of over 1500 locations in respect of the minister’s commitment,” the review found.

The comparisons come as NSW endures a spike in ‘speed-related fatalities’ – itself an ambiguous tag which takes in speeding to the conditions, and underspeeding – while the Victoria road toll fluctuates year-by-year.