Where new speed and red light cameras have been installed in Sydney
By snapping the speeders and the red light runners, cameras on Sydney’s roads have raised a billion dollars in fines over a six year period.
And as the revenue raised by catching out motorists continues to rise, the NSW government is introducing new cameras at crash hot spots.
“We are putting the cameras in places where we know people have been killed and seriously injured,” Centre for Road Safety’s Bernard Carlon revealed.
Merrylands, Silverwater, Rooty Hill, Bass Hill and Warwick Farm are all suburbs determined to be in need of an additional road camera.
Fixed and mobile cameras have been catching out around 650,000 drivers every year.
In 2013/14, the cameras brought in about $150 million.
By 2017/18 that figure rose to just under $200 million.
In six years, the total came to a whopping $937 million.
By now the total will have topped a billion, leaving motorist expert Ian Luff calling for change.
“Thats like a speeding tax,” he quipped on Wednesday.
All the funds raised from fines are used for road safety measures.
With ongoing concerns about road toll figures, questions are being asked about whether enough is being done to reduce the number of lives lost.
“Rolling out speed cameras is not the answer, better education is the answer,” Mr Luff said.
The NRMA is also calling for more highway patrols.
“We also want to change people’s behaviour, there’s no point just collecting the revenue,” NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said.
On top of the recent additions, 19 more fixed cameras will be installed next year.
