NRMA Motoring Blog

Sydney’s M4 Motorway is now toll free.

According to a survey conducted by NRMA Motoring & Services, 71 per cent of motorists supported the decision to remove the toll.

There have also been calls for the toll to be kept in place to contain the number of cars that use the motorway. Traffic on the motorway is, according to some reports, predicted to increase, as are travel times.

However, NRMA Director David Bentham said the NSW Government had made the right decision.

“Motorists have paid for the M4 and they deserve to have the motorway returned to them,” Mr Bentham said.

“Calls for the toll to be kept to fund future projects ignore the fact that NSW motorists already contribute billions to the public purse through the fuel excise, registration costs, stamp duty and other taxes and charges.”

The next motorway to come off contract is the Sydney Harbour Tunnel in 2022, followed by the M5 in 2023.

Visit the RTA’s M4 Motorway page for more information.

Do you think removing the toll will have an effect on your use of the M4? Should tolls be kept on motorways to limit the number of cars that use them? 

Over the next four years, the RTA is replacing existing red-light cameras with safety cameras at 200 locations across NSW.

In December 2009, the RTA began to combine red-light cameras with fixed speed cameras at 50 locations across the state. The safety camera is capable of detecting speeding vehicles, vehicles running red lights, or both.

No new ‘combined’ offences have been created. Drivers will face a penalty notice and associated demerit points for each offence committed.

Safety cameras are being introduced to make intersections safer and reduce the number of crashes at traffic lights.

According to the RTA, “Evaluations of camera enforcement of red-light offences conducted in Australia and overseas have shown this type of enforcement is clearly effective in reducing casualty crashes at intersections. When the evaluations were considered together it is estimated that camera enforcement of red-light offences reduces the number of casualty crashes at intersections by around 30 per cent.”

Intersections with safety cameras will be signposted accordingly. However, motorists need to be aware that there is only one sign warning of the new safety camera, unlike existing fixed speed cameras which have three warning signs in advance.

For more information, please visit the RTA’s Safety camera page.

Will safety cameras reduce the number of crashes at intersections? Will they make you slow down?