Speed cameras here to stay

Speed cameras are set to become more numerous and smarter in the coming years.

That's the word from the policy directors within the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) and VicRoads, who say the solution to the current spike in the road toll is to install more speed cameras.

At the time of writing, Victorian road fatalities had risen by more than 60 per cent in the first five months of 2019. According to the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics, 143 people have died on the state’s roads so far this year -- up from 88 last year.

Last financial year speed cameras raked in $389 million dollars in Victoria alone, accounting for around a third of the national speed camera revenue. Victorians are paying more than $1 million per day in speeding fines.

As the road toll rises sharply, speed camera revenues are likewise increasing, predicted to reach more than $500 in Victoria by 2023.

But this doesn't mean the state's speed camera policy is a failure, the TAC’s director of road safety Samantha Cockfield told carsales.com.au.

“We at the TAC have invested in speed, safety cameras for a long, long time. The evidence is there, not just in Victoria or Australia, but internationally. We know that safety cameras do work to slow people down and do work to have network effect to slow everybody down to the right speed.”

The TAC’s road safety chief said that fatalities have dropped in built-up and urban areas, where the majority of speed cameras are located, while rural deaths have risen sharply due to a lack of buckled seatbelts.

“Government, TAC and police are well aware of that issue and the government has announced it’s going to invest more heavily in getting speed and safety cameras out to rural and regional areas,” said Cockfield.

The Australian road toll to the end of May is 546 nationally, a rise of 13.3 per cent from 2018's 482 deaths. NSW has the highest road toll to date overall, but it was the increases in Victoria and South Australia that saw the national average increase.

In 2018 the Victorian road toll was the lowest in more than a decade, with a total of 213 road deaths, but the figure could top 300 in 2019, which would be a major cause for concern.

“It's fair to say it’s been a most tragic start to a year in terms of road fatalities for a long time. And I think what's most disappointing is it came off a record low last year,” said Cockfield.

According to the Victorian state government, revenue from speed cameras goes into a trust account that invests in “important Victorian projects, including road construction and maintenance and road safety initiatives”.

Cockfield said that as well as encouraging motorists to buy to the safest cars they can afford, the TAC is investing heavily in road infrastructure and “working on human behaviour as well, making sure that people are driving well within the speed limits and to the conditions”.

“We believe our 'towards zero' strategy and everything we're doing within that strategy is working and going to have an effect.”

The government claims the cost of road trauma is far higher than speed camera revenues, estimated at more than $3 billion per year or around $1400 per household.

James Soo, vehicle and motorcycling policy director at VicRoads, describes this year's Victorian road toll as “quite tragic” and insisted that speeding remains one of the "major factors for why we have fatalities”.

However, he noted that there were more factors involved with the recent spike in roads deaths.

"We would have to understand the other factors as to why we are having the fatalities – if it's mobile phone use or distraction then we have to tackle those problems with new initiatives that will minimise the usage of these devices."