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How 55 speed cameras make $116,000 each day from fines
Long story but worth the read. Certainly adds fuel to the fire that speed cameras are revenue raisers....
From The Telegraph.
Quote:
FIXED speed cameras are raising more than $116,000 a day in a NSW Government revenue bonanza that has doubled in a year.
The northbound camera inside the Eastern Distributor in Sydney alone generates more than $20,000 a day, raising more revenue than any of the other 54 new- generation radar traps in the state.
An investigation of official figures obtained by The Daily Telegraph has revealed the fixed cameras earned more than $42.5 million last year, up 118 per cent on the previous year. The figures from the Roads and Traffic Authority amounts to more than $116,000 on average a day.
Details of the revenue bonanza came as an NRMA survey found $1.5 billion in high priority roadworks were needed, and less than a month after the State Government increased the Harbour Bridge toll by 80c.
NRMA CEO Rob Carter last night called for a review of how funds were raised and spent on road infrastructure and safety programs. And Peter Woods, president of the Local Government Association, called on the Carr Government to prove cameras were not just revenue-raisers.
"If the Government was serious about road safety and not just revenue-raising, the money would be put directly into road safety and not just consolidated revenue," Mr Woods said. "Cameras are placed in areas like the bottom of hills where people are likely to be induced to speed."
A Daily Telegraph investigation of every camera in the state shows:
SPEED camera offences doubled to 460,000 last year
A TOTAL of 4623 motorists were fined $607,976 for speeding in the northbound tunnel of the Eastern Distributor last November, 10 times as many as that recorded in the southbound tunnel
CAMERAS installed at 14 locations at least nine months ago still were earning more than $100,000 a month last November
VEHICLES exceeding a 60km/h speed limit dropped from 71 per cent to 21 per cent after a camera was installed
A CAMERA on Parramatta Rd, Auburn in October last year did not raise any revenue.
The NRMA and the LGA last night called on Mr Scully to review how the cash raised in fines was spent, amid claims the cameras were being used as revenue-raisers for the Government.
Documents show the number of offences recorded by the 55 fixed speed cameras in NSW in November alone last year showed cameras in Sydney raised $2,948,336 and in the country $961,157.
The Eastern Distributor northbound and cameras at The Spit, Mosman raised $1,028,044 more than the 21 country cameras. The number of traffic tickets issued in the past year by police dropped by 47,000 but revenue from those infringements increased by $3 million because of increased penalties. A spokesman for Treasurer Michael Egan said yesterday money raised by fines went straight into consolidated revenue.
"There's nothing new in that regard, the money isn't earmarked for anything in particular," the spokesman said. "If the Government earmarked fines revenue for specific projects we would be accused of using fines for revenue-raising purposes."
The only revenue raised from cameras that does not go into the Government's coffers is the Burringbar camera on the Pacific Highway.
When the camera was commissioned in October last year, Mr Scully announced a percentage of the fines would go to the Spinesafe organisation.
Acting Opposition Leader George Souris last night said the cost of installing and maintaining each speed camera in NSW could put an extra three police on the beat patrolling traffic safety.
Mr Souris questioned the use of the speed cameras as "revenue-raising beasts" and whether they should only be installed in "proven black spots". But he said speed cameras were a positive step in reducing fatalities and injuries.
The NRMA survey also showed 75 per cent of motorists supported the use of speed cameras if they helped improve road safety.
Local government also joined the campaign to have increased funds put towards road safety and maintenance. Mr Woods said the money should be put back into the area where the speed camera was located.
THE FULL LIST OF SPEED CAMERAS AND WHAT THEY EARN A MONTH
CITY
Parramatta Rd, Auburn 60km/h, installed October 2001, $0
Spit Rd (northbound), Beauty Point 60km/h, installed March 2001, $158,688
Richmond Rd, Berkshire Park 80km/h, installed June 2000. 96 per cent reduction in infringements, $4134
Elizabeth Drive, Bonnyrigg 60km/h, installed July 2000. 91 per cent reduction in infringements, $131,367
Hume Highway, Burwood 60km/h, installed October 2001, (figures not available)
Hume Highway, Burwood Heights 60km/h, installed October 2001, $11,830
James Ruse Drive, Camellia 70km/h, installed October 2001, $64,635
Canterbury Rd, Canterbury 60km/h, installed March 2001, $310,317
Captain Cook Drive, Caringbah 70km/h, installed March 2001, $32,220
Concord Rd, Concord West 60km/h, installed July 2000. 91 per cent reduction in infringements, $118,031
Eastern Distributor northbound tunnel 80km/h, installed June 2000, $64,110
Pacific Highway, Burringbar 70km/h, digital camera replaced film camera October, 2000. 42 per cent reduction in infringements, (figures not available)
Bangalow Rd, Clunes 60km/h, installed May, 2001, $0
Hume Highway, Coolac 100km/h, installed January, 2000. 91 per cent reduction in infringements, $25,731
Pacific Highway, Gateshead 60km/h, installed May, 2001, 82 per cent reduction in infringements, $109,430
Great Western Highway, Hartley 90km/h, installed December, 2000, $21,304
Pacific Highway, Herons Creek 100km/h, installed December, 1999. 88 per cent reduction in infringements, $3112
Woy Woy Rd, Kariong 80km/h, installed December, 1999. 91 per cent reduction in infringements, $4864
Bells Line of Road, Kurrajong Heights 60km/h, installed May, 2000. 59 per cent reduction in infringements, $110,546
Newcastle Rd, Lambton 70km/h, installed June, 2000. 97 per cent reduction in infringements, $38,010
New England Highway, Lochinvar 60km/h, installed May, 2000. 77 per cent reduction in infringements, $11,762
Princes Highway, North Wollongong 60km/h, installed June, 2000. 79 per cent reduction in infringements, $267,680
* The figures for November 2001 supplied by the Roads and Traffic Authority and the Infringement Processing Bureau.
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You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windscreen. It said, 'Parking Fine.'So that was nice.
at last someone's starting to speak up about this! i find it quite shocking that 75 percent of motorists support speed cameras because they do less for road safety than other measures (eg. driver training) could.
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<p align="center"> *** just because it sells it doesn't mean it's good *** </p> Tickford Owners Club of NSW
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You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windscreen. It said, 'Parking Fine.'So that was nice.
Re: How 55 speed cameras make $116,000 each day from fines
Quote:
Originally posted by Falchoon The NRMA survey also showed 75 per cent of motorists supported the use of speed cameras if they helped improve road safety.
I think the word "IF" applies bigtime here.
I'm sure more than 75% of motorists would NOT support the use of speed cameras IF they DIDN'T helped improve road safety. :crazy1:
I just wish there were some stats on drivers who have completed an advanced driver course, vs drivers that have not. That would be an eye opener and a nasty surprise to certain esteemed government departments (not to mention the gullible public who follow the line that speeding over posted limits is the main killer, as opposed to unsafe speeding.)
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"To be afraid is to be alive - to act against that fear is to be a person of courage."
the house of grunt Click on the above link to go to a site about my cars, old and new.
Delhi Rd, Macquarie Park 60km/h, installed January 2000. 80 per cent reduction in infringements, $140,294
Eastern Valley Way, North Willoughby 60km/h, installed June 2000. 44 per cent reduction in infringements, $196,252
Henry Lawson Drive, Picnic Point 60km/h, Installed December 2000, $198,870
Spit Rd, The Spit 60km/h, installed November 2000. 62 per cent reduction, $420,068
I read this article, and from this you could generalise and assume that the state government gets a lot of it's revenue from yuppies in beamers/porches/etc who don't care (their lawyers will get them off with fines only...) and migrants/uneducated rice boys with limited english reading/writing skills (can't read WARNING, LOSS OF LICENSE, etc), the latter being those who seem to be the ones most fleeced by poker machines.
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The Internet is so big, so powerful and pointless that for some people it is a complete substitute for a life. - Andrew Brown
Haven't had a ticket in the policemans raffle for quite a few years, and hopefully not ever again.
Heres a thought. Whilst the stats show a drop in speeding past the camera, have you ever watched traffic's behaviour around the Gatso? Noses down on the approach and its a LeMans rolling start as soon as they're out of range. Does a lot for road safety methinks - that whole slowing down for a few hundred metres...
L8a,
Prud
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"Be sure to leave your underpants with someone you can trust"
Re: Re: How 55 speed cameras make $116,000 each day from fines
Quote:
Originally posted by Grunter I think the word "IF" applies bigtime here.
I'm sure more than 75% of motorists would NOT support the use of speed cameras IF they DIDN'T helped improve road safety. :crazy1:
Exactly Grunter. These people probably spent a pile of money getting a consultant to phrase the question in such a way that the critical "IF" was put forward in such a way that it steered the respondent towards what they wanted to hear.
So, given so many speed cameras are installed in places where there have been NO ROAD DEATHS for at least five years, they cannot be contributing to road safety. That means theoretically that 100% of the respondents do not agree with the cameras being placed there.
Bob Carr and his cronies. Scum scum scum. Bring back Derryn Hinch I say!
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