Camera snaps freeway hoons

The fixed speed camera on the Mitchell Freeway has detected about five hoons each week driving more than 45km/h over the limit since it started operation in December, police figures show.

Since December 14, the camera has snapped 36 motorists exceeding the 100km/h speed limit by more than 45km/h, including one motorist in the past week who was clocked at 213km/h.

"These are the types of idiots we are intercepting and taking off the road before they inevitably cause serious harm to themselves and other road users," Assistant Commissioner Gary Budge said.

"This is the type of behaviour that is being exhibited at a site where it has been well publicised we have a speed camera.

"With the addition of future fixed speed cameras, we expect similar results will be achieved."

The camera operated only as a trial between December 14 and December 23, but its photographic evidence has been used to prosecute people snapped driving recklessly, meaning they faced losing their vehicles under WA's tough anti-hoon laws.

Police say the fixed speed camera on the Mitchell Freeway has led to a drop in the number of speeding motorists. Figures released this week show most people detected speeding were travelling less than 10km/h over the limit.

In the first six weeks of operation, the camera snapped 78,723 motorists going over the 100km/h limit - including 75,200 (more than 95 per cent) who were driving between 100km/h and 110km/h.

It is unlikely that most of those motorists will be fined for speeding, because of factors including the accepted error rate of vehicle speedometers or circumstances where multiple vehicles are in the same camera image, meaning police cannot identify the offending vehicle.

Police fined 574 motorists for exceeding the freeway speed limit by less than 9kmh between December 23 and January 9.

In the first three weeks of operation the camera detected 42,937 motorists speeding.

The number of motorists fined may change as incidents are assessed and processed.

Police pointed to figures that showed the number of motorists detected speeding had dropped from 17,503 in the first week of operation by about 38 per cent (6571) to 10,932 in the sixth week.

The figures also show 3104 motorists were detected between 110km/h and 119.9km/h; 333 between 120km/h and 129.9km/h; 59 between 130km/h and 139.9km/h and seven between 140 and 146.9km/h.