Safety cameras – Combining red-light and speed cameras
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?
Related posts:
February 5th, 2010 at 10:28 am
I think they will cause more rear enders and more people being booked for just going over the speed limit and eventually resulting in licence suspensions. Just what the government wants! More money!!
February 6th, 2010 at 9:21 am
How is any one of these new cameras going to save lives. Liverpool St Please??? More revenue raising.
February 8th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Revenue rasing – perhaps! On the other hand, I notice more vehicles accelerating thru red lights than say a few years ago so if the end result is to protect motorists from being smashed in the side or rear then bring it on.
February 8th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
If the NSW government was interested in road safety, they’d sink some money into resuscitating the Highway Patrol who’d then more than pay for themselves by enforcing the road rules like they used to do 20 years ago.
But it’s easier and cheaper to put revenue cameras everywhere, isn’t it? “Safety” cameras… do they really think we’re naive enough to believe that safety’s got anything to do with their blatant automated revenue raising?
February 9th, 2010 at 11:18 pm
Ah yes, the sneaky double fine collecting cameras. While people are still getting used to them, the fines revenue will rise sharply because there is only one warning sign. I have already seen the camera flash going off several times at the Beecroft Rd and Pennant Hills junction when the camera was first installed. Now it is flashing less because motorists are wising up.
This may have the intended effect of controlling speed and going through red lights, but it is only after the caught motorist realises he has been caught when the penalty notices arrive. It has no impact on safety at the time of the incident.
And it does nothing to deter motorists from speeding up again immediately after going past the junction. Is that what safety is about ?
Displaying the rego and the speed of the vehicles that are exceeding the limit would be a more immediate way of influencing driver behaviour in the interest of safety.
February 13th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
If this out of control monster (RTA) were honest in their reasoning they would only activate the speed camera part of the ‘safety camera’ on an orange and red phase only. But that wouldn’t make any where near as much money! Is everyone also aware of the RTA’s proposal to run several ‘covert’ mobile speed cameras (money machines) around the state? No one is supposed to know yet so stay tuned !!!!All in the name of road safety……. B.S.!
February 15th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
Is the proposal to update existing red light cameras with combined cameras or a surreptitious way of installing additional cameras without meeting the “black spot” criteria supposedly applied previously. I say this because there are a number of proposed locations on the list which don’t currently have any red light cameras installed.
February 24th, 2010 at 8:34 am
Is it just my imagination or am I seeing more minor bingles around these “safety cameras”. I suspect we are becoming a society of speedo watchers and taking our eyes off the road. I know I am. Even if you are doing 55 in a 60 zone you still check the speedo. It is now all too easy to be watching the speedo and miss the lights changing and not notice the car in front has stopped. I find it far more prefferable for someone to have creeped a couple of Kms over the limit but firmly have their concentration on the road. I feel that constant speedo watching is not much different to using a hands free mobile phone. Legal but an unnecessary distraction.
February 27th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
You have got to be kidding. More revenue for the government to mismanage.
February 27th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
The attitude of the RTA/NSW Labor government is that “Speed is the ONLY factor involved in road deaths” while driver education and behaviour is totally ignored. That’s why they’re putting more and more revenue cameras everywhere and there are no police on the roads booking motorists for driving badly. I won’t be voting for NSW Labor again, that’s for sure.
March 3rd, 2010 at 1:35 pm
I support the propsal. Drivers have adequate warning to slowdown/stop when lights amber. I do have an issue with not enough police on the road to monitor bad driving. I frequently travel F3 & Hume highway at speed limit (when weather allows)& am the usually left way behind by majority of motorists. Also, what has happened to the 100k restriction on semis etc?
Drivers have to learn to drive to road conditions & be alert to changeing conditions. It is not that hard to do!!!. Have no issues with speed cameras & think covert ones an excellent idea.Many drivers slow for the camera then resume their speeding. The revenue can then go towards road maintenance & more traffic police Don’t think it is a Labour/Liberal issue
March 4th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Is this rollout legal? When fixed speed cameras were introduced in NSW if I remeber correctly the legislation was opposed by the NRMA and blocked in the Legislative Council until a compromise was reached requiring BY LAW the quite detailed signage now in use. If I recall the legislation correctly, the signage we are all used to is not optional, but a legal requirement.
NRMA. Where do you stand on this issue? Why is there not a identiacl signage requirment for these cameras to others?
March 9th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
So which genius thought it would be a good idea for us to check our speed at the same time we should be focussed on traffic lights changing and cars stopping in front of us.
Probably the same genius that thought it would be a good idea to put speed cameras in school zones so we are checking our speedos again instead of looking out for the kids.
Don’t get me wrong. We should always be obeying the speed limit but in identified hazardous situations (school zones, intersections, pedestrian crossings, etc) our total focus and concentration should be on the road environment and any potential hazards, not looking away from the road to check the speedo.
With the changes to the situations where cameras are placed and the change to the low end demerits I can see NSW going the way of the ridiculous Victorian zero tolerance speed limits.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:09 am
Don’t speed, don’t go through red lights = don’t get fined, don’t hit pedestrians, don’t hit other cars. Most people here seem to think the world revolves around them, it’s kinda sad.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:13 am
I have noticed a few of these cameras out and about, and have changed my driving style when crossing intersections.
I simply pull the anchors at most intersections whether its amber or red and its simply because i put value on my demerit points. I know i will get collected by a car/truck doing this one day but until then, i will avoid loosing my license.
Then again, i would rather get rear ended then T-boned.
Is that the wrong approach im taking? or the realistic one?
March 11th, 2010 at 10:16 am
If it slows drivers down or gets some of the light runners off the road bring it on.
I obey the speed limits and feel like I am a tortoise on the road as I am constantly being passed and cut off by speeding and reckless drivers.
Driving is a responsibility not a RIGHT.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:27 am
It’s simple really – don’t break the law and the government won’t raise any revenue from you….
March 11th, 2010 at 10:29 am
New cameras are nothing more than more revenue collection for the state. Driver education and decent roads would do lot more for accident prevention than sticks carried by RTA. I constantly see people slowing down for speed camers and then put their foot down to catch to time they lost slowing down for speed camera. People will get to know the location of these new cameras, slow down and then gun it to catch up and possible have an accident doing it.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Wow! So many incompetent drivers! If you can’t be aware of how fast you are going, you shouldn’t be driving. Glancing occasionally at your speedo should be just a small part of your continuous observations as you drive – at the cars ahead, the far distance, cars beside you and behind you, potential hazards left, right and ahead, as well as signs, while you maintain a safe stopping distance from the car in front. Coming up to traffic lights is not the only time you should wonder how fast you are going. If new cameras raise revenue, that’s fine with me, as all these contributions are entirely voluntary!
It would be better of course if we all drove in a way that nobody would ever think of the idea of cameras.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:40 am
RTA only think about revenue raise, not about safety,safety is not only about speeding. RTA need to have several signage to remind the driver, so people will not look only their speedometer and hit another car infront, worst case, hit pedestrians.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:40 am
Driver Education is where they need to concentrate, its not always the SPEED that kills, as a road user on two wheels I cannot dare think how many close shaves have happened and most of the time well within the Speed Limits. If this is about Revenue raising NSW is definitely on the right track, if its road safety, there is a lot that could be done without having to carry a $ tag on it. Looks like are Roads are more of an INVESTMENT than INFRASTRUCTURE these days. heavy vehicle tax, rising ins premiums & rego, ctp, parking / speeding / Red Light tickets, tolls, maintenance … maybe I should just pull the motor out n put some pedals on the bike instead…
March 11th, 2010 at 10:53 am
I agree with any method can make the roads safer if this by slowing vehicles down or preventing people going through red lights. However 2 points. The first is that now when approaching a set of lights and they go amber you have to either cruise through hoping that you guessed the distance and timing right or brake hard enough to stop again in hope that the person behind has reacted quick enough to also stop. The second is that before they put in any more “speed” related cameras every school zone should be done first. And not just one camera in the middle but one at the start and the end so people don’t just slow up in the middle.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:53 am
If drivers kept a safe distance from the vehicle in front of them, adjusting the distance according to the conditions, there would not be so many “minor bingles” around traffic lights.
I’d like to see some evidence that shows that these cameras actually deter speeding through traffic lights.
I’m old school in that if I see an orange light, I slow down, not speed up – taking into account my family’s safety.
Bring them on. If you don’t break the law, you don’t have anything to fear.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:54 am
What is a life worth? Not much according to the RTA who seem hell bent on trading lives and injuries for fines and revenue.
The last thing we need is another reason to take our eyes of the road and onto our speedometers. Driving should be about paying attention to the environment around you, the other vehicles, pedestrians, etc.
In the grand scheme of things, speed really is less important than driver skill, vehicle safety and road surface state. Pity the RTA only have dollar signs in their eyes.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:54 am
Excellent if you can’t keep to the speed limit. Can’t stop at a red light or judge a yellow light appropriately. You deserve to have a fine.
It’s the road rules anyway, no need for more signs telling people that if they break the law they could be fined.
The law is there to protect other road users from the minority who think they can break the law with impunity. Even judges are not above the law.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:59 am
I read some of the responses with amazement, put camera’s on every set of lights, from my observations drivers are blatantly ignoring red lights every day of the week I know you can’t stop stupidity but come on people this is suicide by car look at your selves.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:01 am
If the RTA was really serious about safety, they would make a comprehensive defensive driving course mandatory for a licence test. Problem is, they would never pass the test, only those who were competent drivers. This would mean less accidents, less traffic infringements and for the RTA and the government, much less revenue. Money before safety, that should be the motto of the RTA
March 11th, 2010 at 11:13 am
These safety cameras are still fixed speed cameras, no matter how the smart Roads Minister and the clever RTA people look at it. These cameras should have the usual 3 signs to warn motorists that (supposedly) it is an area that the State wants to reduce accidents in. The current Safety Camera signage is totally inadequate and I am positive the change will cause more accidents through people panicking whilst looking for small signs, not at the traffic lights.
Our NSW State government is trying to tell us they know what is good for us. I think this is an arrogant, unsafe, inmature and unintelligent approach to road safety on behalf of the NSW Government. If I receive a speeding fine from a safety camera, I won’t pay and will be asking the Minister and the SDRO where the 3 usual ‘speed camera ahead’ signs were at the time of the alledged offence.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:15 am
According to (my) informed sources, both red light and speed cameras, whether the latter are fixed or not, do not comply with the requirements that exist in all States/Territories and the Constitution for measuring devices used for the purpose of imposing legal penalties to be subjected to testing, before deployment, by seeking compliance with the National Measurements Act 1960.
In order for these devices to be legitimate, they must have an NSC number (or what is termed “pattern approval”), and none of them do. Given the manufacturer’s own admission of the many possible causes of erroneous readings, it is unlikely that any of them CAN achieve the required standard. Note that the Act is Federal legislation, and the Constitution makes clear that Federal law supervenes State and Territory law.
So, whether or not the law of a subordinate jurisdiction appears to give legal standing to these devices, and whether or not these devices contribute positively or (as some say), more likely, negatively to road safety, they don’t have legal leg (or tripod) to stand on.
Can the NRMA spend some time having a look at this point of view?
March 11th, 2010 at 11:15 am
Speed cameras cause drivers to concentrate disproportionately on their spedo, and less on the road – ironically, these cameras INCREASE the danger of a collision with cars and PEDESTRIANS as a consequence. Governments are in no way interested in public safety with this venture.
It will provide more funds for the same incompetent government spending.
I always think of NRMA as the brains and social conscience, whereas the RTA is the headless greedy, incompetent monster. To see RTA idiocy in action, just have a look at the end result of the “Castle Hill town centre bypass”. hahahahaha!!! what a mess!!
March 11th, 2010 at 11:15 am
How can it be “revenue raising”? If you are stupid enough to break the law you should be caught. and yes speeding and running a red light are breaking the law.
I’m profesional driver, and the things I see on our roads are criminal. The road signs are there for a reason, so lets start by obeying them.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:16 am
Bring it on. I just wish the ACT would do the same. It is noticible in the ACT that at intersections with red light cameras almost noone crosses on the red light. At most other intersections a lot (almost the majority) of motorists put their foot down and cross against the orange or red light. Why not put up dummy boxes at all intersections and then move the cameras around regularly. Not knowing which cameras are active would have the same effect and then could not be deemed to be purely a revenue raising exercise.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:16 am
These things like red light cameras are a waste of time, there is nothing like hearing the siren, being pullled over and being spoken to in person by a police officer, this plastic way of road safety is one of the reasons NSW has an appaling road record.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:21 am
In the early nineties I almost lost my license due to multiple speeding fines and finally an accident caused by me from speeding.
Accordingly, the combination cameras make good sense as it is common for drivers to speed up in order to get through the lights before they turn red which therefore increases the likely-hood of a more serious accident with the possibility of death.
After all, if we stop at the lights instead of trying to get somewhere a bit quicker we may actually not just save our license but save someone the grief of serious injury and perhaps death.
I now leave 15 minutes earlier to allow for the increased number of traffic lights and the likely-hood of sitting in traffic waiting to get round an accident caused by someone who could not take the time to take care on the roads.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Can they put one at the Cnr Hume Highway & Leacocks Lane Casula – the end near the Caltex Petrol station – they constant do illegal u turns to go to petrol station and turn on the red light more times than they stop. Anything to stop this dangerous practice My sister and my mother have both been abused whilst doing left turn with a green turning arrow to them, because the person opposite was doing an illegal uturn to get to petrol station.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:48 am
If the NSW government was interested in road safety, they’d build better roads.
Speed doesnt kill. There are plenty of race car drivers, astronauts, and fighter pilots that will attest to that
March 11th, 2010 at 11:49 am
There is a very easy way for the RTA to show that it is not revenue raising: set the speed cameras to catch only those drivers driving significantly over the speed limit.
In this way, they avoid penalising the inadvertent but otherwise law-abiding offender, the kind who perhaps forgets to check his speedo every few seconds in a line of traffic, or because he is looking out for schoolkids.
As far as the idiots are concerned, use every available means to trap them, using secret cameras everywhere, especially in roadwork zones which many drivers totally ignore.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:50 am
I agree with most of the comments made. I see them as more of a danger than a life saving device. I have even been going the other way at night and had the flashes in my eyes when they go off – very safe at an intersection!
The Government has been demonising speed for many many years, yet they cannot put together an advertisement where speeding CAUSES an accident rather than be a factor in an accident. The latest little finger campaign belittles drivers, but every example shown does not have speeding, but “Hoon” behavious, driving at speeds well within the speed limit.
To all the drivers above who say they drive within the law all the time noted on the page, i have followed many of you over the nearly 40 years of driving and there is virtually none of you that if I had been a policeman, I could have booked you for at least one offence and usually two or three including speeding. Do not get on your high horse, we have so many petty regulations that it is almost impossible to get in your car and not break one of them.
Speeding is a factor in 40% of fatalities, which is no surprise. Logic tells you that this is a highly possible statistic. However, speeding does not cause 40% of fatalities. Another factor in approx 60% of fatalities are male drivers, which is just as relevant and has a similar causality as speeding. Under the Governments logic, maybe all male drivers should be fined whenever they get into a car! Sounds rediculous, but it is just as relevant as the Govts logic on death rates.
Get our roads right, get our signposting right, get consistency, get rid of most of the signposting on the roads that only distract and do not add to safety, get our speed limits RIGHT.
Our speed limits now are lower on average than they were thirty years ago when the roads in many cases were goat tracks, our cars had drum brakes, no air bags or ABS or any other safety gear. We have much better roads now and getting better every day, significantly better cars, yet the Govt (or RTA) keep reducing the speed limits. leeding to boredom and fatigue.
March 11th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
It is obvious that this is just another revenue raising ploy by the cash strapped NSW State Government. Any Government which wanted to make the roads safer would increase the numbers of Police in the Highway Patrol. The problem for the Government is that Police are a ongoing costly expense ie. training, wages, vehicles, etc. Whereas, a camera is a one off expense which requires regular maintenence. The cost factor alone will always sway the Government in favour of a camera as it will always be cheaper and have a greater earning capacity than any Police Officer. Another poit to clarify. When did the “amber” light become “yellow”.
March 11th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Any body who says it aint $$ is having them selves on !!!
these cameras are on 24 hours a day no matter what the conditions weather traffic or other wise with no discretion whatsoever. You watch the next step they will introduce will be zero tolerance – The limits absolutely whilst appropriate in most instances are way hard to be constantly maintained especially say in clear traffic conditions , particularly with general performances in most modern vehicles. Obviously I am against red light runners and negligent driving – but why do the greater generally competent drivers have to suffer for the idiot minor percentages . I support a more flexible approach that only a human face can administer…ie a proper identifiable presence – not this surrupticious discretionaless money grab by a hypocritical administration.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
When are they going to realise that PROPER driver training and education are needed to reduce the number of accidents. I would also like to know the definition of “speeding”. There are many factors that need to be considered when determining a safe speed at which to travel. These include driver skill, the vehicle being driven, the nature of the road, weather conditions etc. I have regularly seen drivers driving in a dangerous manner at speeds well below the speed limit purely because they do not have the required driving skills and little knowledge of how to safely handle a vehicle.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
The cameras are not legal if the information in the comments is correct. Could NRMA check this?
However many self righteous non speeders seem to have missed the point. It is not about speed or the cameras not about revenue. It is about stupid one issue thinking, hypocracy and short sightedmess.
Rightly or wrongly the Red Light cameraa were introduced to deter the small number of problem drivers. NOTE deter. One sign doesn’t do that nor getting a fine for running a Red Light or speeding in the mail, so the RTA’s hypocracy is exposed. So FAILs on this measure.
Also I have personally observed the likelihood of rear end collisions increasing as you are supposed to make a decision on yellow to stop or proeed through – choice. The camera can (to many drivers) mean stop REGARDLESS which is just an unsafe as proceeding through the intersection and contradicts how we were trained. FAIL.
The driver who goes through the intersection on red is not the one with that decision as they are going through – so the camera isn’t much of a deterrant to that class of driver. Hmm. Not a simple problem is it?
So the government and those one issue people think about the problem. Oh and the fines DO NOT go to road or intersection improvement – it goes to consoldated revenue. FAIL.
There are already overseas studies showing the cameras don’t work. If we were really serious about fixing the problem should start with TRAINING. But hey, that costs money.
So while the self righteous say “don’t speed” – it is not about that – most drivers drive at reasonable speeds – overseas studies have shown that ALSO. It is about the OBJECTIVE of the cameras. No warning. Finesi nthe mail LATER. A red light runner is going to do regardless and the more fearful are going to stop when they should proceed through the intersection. Not speeding doesn’t mean you are a good driver with requisite judgement and skills to avoid accidents or keep a good look out, it justmeans you do one thing regardless of road and other conditions. Safety is a complex issue. To boil it down to one reason is unreasonable and ignores all the factors – training, road conditions, traffic loading, number of large trucks and the visual blocks they present, road design, poor camber etc etc.
If the RTA were true to the objective they would provide the warnings so the traffix was ‘calmed’ and if there was no revenue then the objective will have beenhonestly reached. But don’t think it is about road safety if there is no warning.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
The Safety camera on cnr Pennant Hills & Beecroft Road is actually in a 40 zone. Does this camera enforce a 40 zone during school hours or not???
Like some of the previous comments i see a lot of silly things people do just to save a minute. This includes a number of cars turning from the non right hand turn lane on Boundary Road, Pennant Hills & even worse on Beecroft Road turning into Blaxland Road, Epping.. but what can be done to stop these people doing this??
The main issue is that people are too impatient when it comes to driving & not considerate of anyone else on the roads anymore.
Unless someone can change peoples attitudes while they drive on the road nothing will change!!! Whenever i stop at a red light & i’m the first car to enter the intersection on the green light i always have to make sure that no idiot is driving through the red light just to save a minute to ensure that i can continue living……
March 11th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Hmmm….. more fines in the absence of a real road safety strategy. And more rear enders from people slamming on the brakes rather than accelerate through an orange light and (possibly) get fined.
What a joke.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Brilliant idea, how many times have you been stuck at the lights waiting to turn right only to be prevented from turning due to red light runners. If you go through the red you get booked. These days amber is seen as a different shade of green and most think it means go faster. Anything that stops preventable accidents at intersections gets my vote.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
I have seen some horrific accidents caused because motorists have been watching their speedo instead of the road ahead. its impossible to drive normally without letting your speed creep a few kms over the speed limit, the only way to avoid that is to keep your eyes glued to the speedo, and then you are not watching the traffic ahead. These safety cameras should be renamed revenue cameras.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Excellent idea. More of them please. Safety first
March 11th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Maybe if people drove more carefully instead of speeding and tailgating there wouldn’t be a need for for safety cameras, but I think they are great idea. So what if they raise money from idiot drivers I am so sick of them on the road, they deserve it. Learn to do the speed limit and drive safely and you won’t have a problem!!!
March 11th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
Revenue raising once again. A fine in the mail is no good at preventing an accident. Nor is a punitive approach which encourages motorists to obsess about speeding to the point where observing the conditions becomes of secondary (or even less) importance.
Drivers need to take some personal responsibility about how they drive, authorities need to educate drivers more comprehensively (lane discipline comes to mind…) and the NRMA is perfectly placed to represent the interest of motorists without pandering to politically correct ideology.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Pure revenue raising.
How am I supposed to watch the road if I need to be watching my speedo as well as reading all the safety warning signs? In short, how does increasing driver distraction contribute to safety?
March 11th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Perhaps, despite the SAFETY cameras, and when accidents simply refuse to go away, the RTA could bring in satellite tracking devices in microchipped cars that fine everyone for leaving their garages. After all it’s about safety, and the vastly increased revenue raised from these covert spying systems on innocent citizens could perhaps go into research into more elegant covert systems of fines/ raising revenues that surely one day will keep people safe.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Just Sunday I saw a motorist accellerate & run a red light with 3 kids in his car. My opinion speed limits are speed limits 60kmph is not 61 Red lights are not Green you break the laws don’t winge about getting caught. If you can’t travel at or below the speed limits you shouldn’t be driving, if you have to sit on someones bumper bar you shouldn’t be driving, if you cant obey the trafic rules you shouldn’t be driving. I for 1 am sick of seing people being killed/maimed/injured because they/you cannot obey the traffic rules. If it works bring the cameras on.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Great comments here particularily the issue of speed watching the clock and not the actual traffic in front and behind you………..The RTA needs revenue but we motorists are already getting a raw deal………..try driving out through any of the country roads in NSW and you’ll find the potholes from hell……yea they’ll say council own them and council will say they are RTA-owned and no one wants to fix them ……meanwhile wheel-balancing and alignment/tracking costs around $80 a visit.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
About time these mad speeders will finally get what they deserve.
The NORMAL speed cameras are rubbish but this initiative will really help save lives.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
This will certainly increase in more of tailgate type accidents around the signals and clogging of the traffic. Of course, this will generate money for RTA and that is all what they are interested.
If they are serious, they should publish statistics of : Number of accidents around each signals for a period of at least 5 years. Then implement only in the top 5 of that for a period of 2 years and see what the results are:
If they don’t have any of these numbers to support that, it is all rubbbish, nothing to support their cliams of safety
March 11th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
This is nothing but a sneaky and underhanded way of introducing ANOTHER 250 speed cameras to our roads
The RTA has always been smarting about the restrictions regarding placement and signage of the original speed cameras. They were dragged kicking and screaming to make those “concessions”
Now some smart bureaucrat has figured a way to get around those restrictions. It could well be something from the old TV series ‘Yes Minister’. I am sure the discussion would have been something like this:
“When is a speed camera NOT a speed camera?
When it is a safety camera, of course!
How can anyone POSSIBLY complain if we spin this as a “safety” issue? It’s like someone complaining about ‘motherhood’ – no one would ever do that!
And if people do try to complain, we can just beat up the situation and drum up support via the morning press and the radio shock jocks. We are saving lives!!!!
Call me a cynic, but I am sick and tired of spin from government departments.
Let’s call a spade a spade and a ‘safety’ camera a speed camera.
(Oh… and don’t forget about the ‘ker-ching” of the cash registers as they reap the fines and spirit them away to other NON ROAD issues)
March 11th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
When are the RTA boffins going to put some of the money they have raised from these cameras into improving road safety, erecting flashing lights at school zones and fixing roads throughout the state. Further to these cameras there is discussion that the RTA would like to reduce the speed limit from 100kph to 90kph, when Californian studies and the Northern Territory experience proved reduction in speed limits actually caused more accidents. Come on RTA when are you going to get serious and stop pulling the wool over motorists eyes, we aren,t stupid!
March 11th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
The very use of the word “Safety” in connection with these surveillance systems is comparable to the use of terms like “Security Forces” in apartheid South Africa. It is misleading at best, mere propaganda at worst. (Who can argue with “safety” after all?)
The NSW RTA, perhaps one of the most inefficient government departments in Australia has a very clear financial agenda visible in many of its policies and this is but one more step in raising revenue for an inefficient State Government, (although I doubt the opposition would act to curb such excesses).
My hope, (somewhat forlorn at present I’ll admit) is that someday the people will rise up politically and say “enough!” to those who steal from them in this way.
March 11th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
My point is simple – if you don’t BREAK THE LAW there will be NO REVENUE collected.
March 11th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
I totally agree with Toby’s comments. They are just revenue raisers and do not prevent accidents or produce safer drivers. This comes back to driver education, peer pressure, safety awareness campaigns and the courts who should include vehicle imponding and destruction or sale.
March 11th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
A fool got caught with one of these cameras as I turned right from Cumberland Highway into St Johns Road at Cabramatta a few weeks ago. The light had turned amber as I turned right and he was well behind me. Anybody who has a problem with this is probably as bright as he was.
March 11th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
In heavy city traffic, getting across the road is like a game of musical chairs. I wait until there is a clear space on the other side of the intersection before I cross. It’s not unusual, however, for other motorists to take this opportunity to cut in front of me. Now I’ll get a double fine if I get stuck out in the road and speed up to get out of it. An actual policeman can assess the situation and use judgement to determine if there are extenuating circumstances. A speed and red light camera will not be able to tell if you are avoiding an accident or stuck in an intersection because of somebody else’s actions.
March 11th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
If Melinda has moved into the intersection before the lights changed she will not be booked. I once asked a Policeman from the camera section about this and that is how he explained it. The camera takes two photos if the line is crossed after the light changes, if you have crossed the line before the change you are safe.
March 11th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
“Methinks the motorist doth protest too much!”
Stupid arguments like this initiative will cause more rear enders as people stop or slow when they see the lights change. Doh! This will only happen a few times until people stop tailgating and realise that the person in front of them may stop suddenly! We will then have slower cars, less tail gating and less light jumping!
Sit at any set of lights (any day) and watch how many people speed through on the yellow and red. Sit there at night and watch the light jumpers increase again.
So MORE CAMERAS PLEASE and lets get rid of these silly signs warning about cameras ahead. (Most young hoons have GPS which warn them about cameras anyway!)
Lets start using more mobile “hidden” cameras because NSW roads are currently a very dangerous place to be!
March 11th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
It is definitely unsporting, but a good idea. I often find myself speeding up to just get through a red-light. If there is a camera there, mate, it is pedal to the metal (within reason etc etc). When I look in the mirror, there is inevitably another clown behind me.
If they were serious about safety, then some sort of locally or GPS activated speed governor would surely work better? Why is there 220 kph on my speedo?
March 11th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
I agree with others.. might reduce intersection crossings, but will increase significantly rear enders. Many intersections have a very short amber light duration (more about this later), so people speed up to get through the intercection without going on red.. Now they will slam on the brakes, and hope the next couple of cars have as good brakes as the first one. Not sure what will happen if you have a bus or truck, or car towing a trailer is behind the first car.
I actually went and complained to this at RTA, and was shown/told that even going on orange is a finable offence.. So since RTA have started having a decreased revenue from speeding.. they are lookng for alternatives.. Green its okkay.. go on amber you pay the fine + points.. trying to avoid the amber, you could pay for 2 fines..
Every intersection with a redlight will become a gamble.. Not sure how many cars do not obey the inertia laws of physics that can stop in 0cm when the light changes from green to amber.. however unfortunately none of my cars do.. Also not sure if RTA know it yet.. most people dont have 0ms reaction times.. so it inevitable that many people will run through amber.. and possibly run through red, without acclerating..
Ohh.. how many people can drive.. while concentrating on the stop lights, as well as monitoring their speed limit all in the same split second they go through an intersection..
Frankly i think motorists should start a protest at the revenue raising rta schemes.
March 11th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Evil! There’ll just be increase in the number of vehicles making unnecessary emergency stops and increase the risks for rear end accidents.
March 11th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
In the interests of road safety how can these devices or any cameras be deemed safety devices if there catching people after they have already committed an “unsafe” act. I find that nothing is as good as encouraging good driving behaviour as a highway patrol car in a drivers rear view mirror but even the highway patrol are more interested in sitting at the side of a straight section of 4 lane road than patrolling black spots, road work zones etc. I guess sitting there catching people on a “safe road” is more profitable?
March 11th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
As if there isn’t enough things to concentrate on when you are out and about on the road! You watch the cars in front, the cars behind and beside you, your speed, traffic signs, etc,etc. It gives me a headache sometimes. And now more cameras!
Most of us are fairly safe drivers! Three years ago I lost all my points for mostly trival things (over 3 years!) I’m not a hoon! It’s just revenue raising.
March 11th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
I have had one infringement in 54 years of driving and that’s 10 years ago. I had just bought a car with auto transmission the previous week and didn’t properly appreciate that engine breaking doesn’t work well in atomatics. Since then I don’t break road rules and so don’t have to panic about where cameras or traffic police are.
March 11th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Pathetic!
These cameras cause accidents and distract judgment. They only cause major panic and confusion upon the approach of them.
Should I go, should I stop, should I go, should I stop… BANG!
More revenue, more danger, more stress to Australians!!!
We have enough to deal with already! We are becoming more and more antisocial and hateful to each other because of the daily stresses we deal with. Another perfect way to add more stress to our already stressed Aussies, and make more of an ill messed up society! I’m all for safer roads however…
Bottom line…Cameras are not the way to go!
March 11th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
So called Safety Cameras will not stop intersection accidents, which are the result of carelessness or negligence. They are therefore just another grab at revenue. Goodbye NSW Labor Government .
March 11th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
I welcome more speed cameras and red light cameras. Think of it as voluntary taxation, or a tax on stupidity.
March 11th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
Revenue raising? Good! After all, if you don’t like the fine, don’t drive like you deserve it. The more revenue you pay here the less the rest of us have to pay.
Effective? Turn all the cameras off for a week and watch the idiots do their own thing.
March 11th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Comments like “it will cause more rear enders” or “these are revenue raisers” are unfortunately typical of the attitude of many people today who believe they should be allowed to do anything (sometimes even if other people might get hurt or worse). These cameras can in no way be compared to “bottom of the hill” speeding cameras that are examples of good ideas gone wrong.
Saying they will not stop intersection offences is also wrong as many (unfortunately not all) will be more aware and will possibly think twice about being an absolute fool.
Speeding and red light running are both extremely dangerous and easily avoidable in EVERY case.
I believe ALL red lights should have these cameras installed (possibly at the expense of some of the bottom of the hill cameras and I would also be happy to see the fines and points doubled for both offences.
March 11th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Go for it. At Coffs Harbour a week back a B double ran a red light at the hospital entrance, I thought i’ll get that bloke. No number plate & no trailer lights at all. The traffic was reasonably slow so no excuse. Too much traffic to phone in so off he went.
March 11th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
If we the Australian motorist are to believe that these new cash registers that state governments across this nation are placing at a corner near you actually saves lives, we are mistaken, they have not yet shown us that this is so, we all know the best way to reduce traffic infringements is to put police actually on the roads, by doing so the motorist does not know where and when a traffic officer is at any given time as they should be mobile in marked cars out patroling the streets and highways, the majority of drivers quickly change their habits when a police vehicle is around,
All governments are strapped for cash and they see that the motorist is a milking cow, revenue raised by the speed cameras etc should be poured back into more patrol cars, why not have traffic police dedicated to traffic only as they have in Spain these officers are not trained in general policeing but are only there for traffic offences,
They are very effective and are highly mobile.
March 11th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
“Safety cameras”?? Sounds like newspeak to me.
March 11th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Is this another money grabbing exercise for the government or a real safety issue . If I travel to Brisbane from Sydney I could possibly travel at 130-140KMs an hour all the way and if I am lucky not be pulled up by the Highway Patrol because there is not enough of them . Have these cameras slowed me down for that trip NO All that happens is I will get the tickets in a couple of weeks and I will be more anti Camera than I am now. The only way to solve the problem is to stop wasting money on the camers and put more money out to have more Police patrolling the highways which by the way might slow some of these cowboy truckies ( Sorry another raw nerve of mine)
March 11th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
I say bring it on. I am sick to death of people running red lights and generally behaving badly on the roads. As a driver that traverses the notorious Picton Rd, Sth Coast NSW, I am confronted with dangerous and idiotic drivers on a weekly basis, not to mention people sppeding in school zones, behaving obnoxiously and harrassing me for driving to the speed limit. I know people say these things are purely revenue raisers but if drivers did the right thing there would be no revenue to raise. And another thing, When will people understand thaty a speed limit is a speed limit, it is not the starting point for seeing how fast you can go. Do the right thing and there will be no revenue from these cameras. I am all for drivers getting caught for driving badly, they get away with too much and make the roads dangerous for us all. Bring on the cameras!
March 11th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Running a red is plain stupid, very easy way for someone to die.
With all the funds they will raise, maybe our desperate NSW Govt. could get some (any?) visible Highway Patrols out there. Now, a Highway Patrol up the back side really has an immediate impact. No use getting a fine in the mail up to 6 weeks later, not much of a “safety” issue really. But it looks sexy as “spin” from our blonde Premier of the moment.
Yes there will more rear enders for sure, and with the poor road systems there are more and more lights being put in very few metres, rather than a structured approach to get traffic to flow smoothly. Now that’s a thought..
In regard to the other saftey issue, speeding, it is unfortunate The Govt sees speeding simply as a revenue cow as it is very easy to monitor, dangerous driving is not easy, at least not for a camera, too hard. Again Highway Patrols, now thats a thought.
March 11th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
So safety cameras are a revenue raiser? Not so. They are a tax on stupidity as Patrick says.
And if a driver cannot cope with a few more Red Light/Speed cameras then why are they allowed to drive anyway? Solution is simply to obey the law.
Ask any driver on a bond or about to lose their last point how many others are observed disobeying all sorts of road rules/laws.
Seems from reading some comments that there are a lot of incapable drivers on the road.
Drive within the law and there is no problem. Consider it an avoidable tax!
Also the signs preceeding Speed Cameras should be removed to avoid confusing some aparently easily confused drivers.
As for rear enders, keep alert and keep at least two and a half seconds from the vehicle in front, cars and trucks are not a lounge chair but a lethal weapon.
March 11th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
i could not agree more with those who want redlight cameras and speed cameras at all traffic light intersections. especially Valerie Hussain. i have occasionally been nearly wiped out as i have set off at Green and some speedster shoots past my front end. fortunately most lights are set so that this is extremely difficult to do, but some manage it by accelerating as they see the lights go red when it would be just as easy to brake. cross roads are inherently dangerous, so why not introduce more roundabouts anyway. roundabouts are not good for heavy traffic conditions on the major trunkways, but ideal for most other situations.
March 11th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Revenue raising?
there is one sure way to stop that….
stay within the speed limit,
don’t go through red lights….
Stop complaining and obey the rules.
The next life you save might be your own.,
Gee! it’s not rocket science.
and an added bonus….they won’t get your money
March 11th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
I think it is a good initiative.
If people didn’t speed and run red lights it wouldn’t be necessary.
The sooner all cars have GPS speed limiters the better.
March 11th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
Great idea,
If people just obeyed the laws in place this kind of technology would not be needed. As for those who say its just more revenue earning, well if you obey you don’t have to pay!!! Should save a lot lives, just got to be wary of the tail gaters though.
March 11th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
“Safety” cameras? Sorry, but any safety issue is negated by the fact that people caught by them only find out weeks later! I believe that in England, some years back, “safety” cameras were found to cause more accidents than they saved. People realising they were too fast, or going through a red light suddenly braked, while those behind were too busy looking at their speedo to see what was happening in front.
In rural areas, speed cameras seem to be only set up where even 20 km over the limit would still be safe for competent driver. (Not a lot of these about, methinks).Perhaps a camera that catches people using a mobile phone would be more safety orientated.
March 11th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
The roads are getting more and more cluttered with expensive toys for the RTA to play with. If they really wanted to slow traffic down at intersections, save both lives and money they could replace at least 90% of traffic lights with ROUNDABOUTS. You have got to slow down for them, you do not have to constantly monitor your speed, if you try to race through them you will damage your own suspension. Traffic flows better with them. As electricity becomes dearer in the future the RTA will have to come up with more fines to pay for the added cost. They have the same effect on long stretches of road as so called traffic calming devices and make driving a little less frustrating
March 11th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
The RTA relies on satistics to decide where to place cameras. The best way to get rid of cameras is to do the right thing. When the location has a required reduction of incidents, the camera should be moved to anohter location.
March 11th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
As with any cash strapped government, a way to increase revenue will always be on the cards!! Are they going to change the “red light camera” warning to say “red light and speed camera ahead”?? Bet you a dollar they will not!!
March 11th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
About 4 years ago, a Sydney paper stated that in the previous 12 months 171,000 motorists had been booked for running red light cameras (RLC). Consider, at a RLC intersection (mostly crossroads), the camera only captures 1 direction of traffic, not all 4 directions. So we can now multiply that 171,000 by 4 = 684,000 motorists potentially running red lights. Also consider that RLC are at no more than 10% (1:10) of intersections (more likely 5% – 1:20), so we can multiply that 684,000 x 10 = 6,840,000 motorists running red lights in 1 year. If 5% you can double that figure. HOW SAFE DO YOU FEEL DRIVING THROUGH A GREEN LIGHT NOW? How would you feel if you/and your family were slammed into by a boofhead running a red light?
I have been treating the dead and maimed victims and those responsible for those car crashes for 33 years. I am sick and tired of the almost total anarchy on our roads. The total disregard for speed limits and road rules is abyssmal. It seems that AMBER is the new green.
DON’T tailgate and also anticipate the green changing and you won’t rear-end someone else.
March 11th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
The evidence is from research says: Red light cameras may decrease the number T-bone collisions, however they also significantly INCREASE the number of rear-end accidents by causing people to speed up exiting the intersection to avoid getting booked, which result in rear-end collisions.
Comprehensive research studies suggests that there is no strong data to support the installation of red-light cameras at intersections. Averaged across all jurisdictions in a study in Virginia USA, installation of red-light cameras resulted in a net INCREASE in crash costs and no improvement in overall injury reduction. Only when fatal injuries were excluded from the analyses was the study able to show a modest reduction in crash costs.
Put simply: Research evidence DOES NOT support the case for installing cameras for the purpose or crash reduction or injury reduction. It is purely a revenue raising exercise and governments should be forced to admit this.
I am unaware of ANY properly conducted studies that demonstrate that speed cameras or other revenue-generating traffic cameras reduce accidents, injuries or traffic deaths. If these studies existed, the RTA would be trumpeting them everywhere — but they are not so it is reasonable to assume these studies have not found in favour of cameras.
People who support traffic cameras simply do not know the data behind the research.
Speed cameras are effectively nothing more than yet another tax on drivers.
March 11th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
What is it with the people saying they will have an accident because they with be “Watching” the speedo It takes less than a second to look down every now and then Im sure when their speeding they spend more time than that looking in their rear vision mirror to see if they are going to get caught than what it will take to check the speedo!
March 11th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
As the victim of a driver who ran a red light I agree this practice should be discouraged. However, as a driver I have difficulty with the fact that proceeding through an amber light will attract a fine even though there is sufficient time to be through the intersection prior to the light changing to red. If a driver has to speed up to get across the intersection prior to the lights turning red. they obviously should read the amber light as a sign to stop.
I was always under the understanding the amber light gave sufficient time for a driver to complete the crossing of the intersection safely before the light changed to red if the driver was close enough to the intersection at the time of the change.
To try and avoid going through an amber light is very difficult. What warning do we get that it is about to change? In trying to adhere to the new understanding of the rule I find myself petrified that the car behind me will not have sufficient time to stop, if I need to stop suddenly when almost at the line. Perhaps the driver behind will be slower to react! If everyone observes this requirement I envisage rear end accidents will increase. Both good and bad drivers will be similarly affected. Instead of making intersections safer it will add another dimension to making them more dangerous.
Common sense and good judgment should surely be taken into account.
March 11th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
Me thinks the majority of negative responses are from people who consistently break the law in running red lights or speeding. these cameras only operate if the vehicle passes the line of the road when the light turns red. So far as I am concerned the more of these cameras installed the safer the roads will be and the drivers who flout the laws will be caught and put off the road although I believe the number of drivers who are still driving after having their licenses suspended is a major growing problem as they know the police will only be checking their licenses at RBT locations.
March 11th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
I travel 20 klm’s to work and I’m sick and tired of waiting at a green light before I can take off because there are other cars going through a red light in the other direction. I see 3 to 4 cars every day blatently go through red lights as if they were not there. I’ve even been abused by cars behind me because I haven’t gone through a red light. There are red light cameras in my suburb but obviously they are not turned on. The funny part about it is that there are never any unmarked or police cars around to see this going on.
March 11th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
Yep, this is just a money grab. I reckon the revenue with these safety cameras will double within the next year: it is a guaranteed money spinner. Instead, why doesn’t the NSW government make our roads safer(this is their obligation to us, as the taxpayers, but it costs money and requires effort), or fence off all the schools on main roads and build pedestrian overpasses so there are no 40 kmh zones on main arterial routes like Pennant Hills Rd(this is a good idea, but it costs money and requires effort). The NSW govt is going to change next election, but where is Liberal Barry’s alternative ideas and opposition? Geez, a choice between ineffectual and useless.
March 11th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
Well …”let those who haven’t sinned cast the first stone”. I read some of the comments of those who think they are perfect. Funny thing is…nobody is perfect, in particular when it comes to driving. Cameras are another form of revenue grab by whoever is in power. Face it…if there is no drinker, driver, gambler or smoker we could not earn enough to pay taxes.
The NRMA should check whether the cameras are in contravention of the Constitution.
March 11th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
I see someone go through the red lights at nearly every change. It is about time that this dangerous practice is stopped. I think that red light cameras may make people think twice about accelerating to beat the change.
March 11th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
I wonder what happened to the government here? They’re supposed to serve the people but they’re becoming more like a greedy corporate who will think up of anything to gain more money and they can all do it ‘legally’ since they control the law. How do they come up with statistics like 30% when records show the number of road death toll is the same or even more than previous years? Clearly these safety cameras are not working.
March 11th, 2010 at 7:35 pm
Bring them on, the more the merrier. Hopefully it may slow the impatient drivers speeding through the amber to beat the red, when they should be preparing to stop. Those who complain about it being a revenue raising stunt are the main culprits. If you are in such a hurry to get from A to B there is a simple solution, LEAVE YOUR DEPATURE POINT EARLIER to give yourself ample timefor the journey
March 11th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Revenue making machines. look at the penalty bill, they are on every family’s table. what is the point if every family, almost every one get a ticket?!
March 11th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Another exercise in being seen to be doing something rather than solving a complex problem. Must be easier for a politician if it is also sold by a good salesman and it adds to revenue. We want better roads and better drivers not more silly short sighted revenue raising bandaids.
March 11th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
More revenue raising. If it did’t generate income from dollars it would not have been implemented.
March 11th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
Speed cameras are nothing more than legalised theft. If it wasn’t the government they’d join forces with whomever it was that was doing it. The government is meant to be there for the people and this just proves how corrupt they have become.
We’re all being manipulated and exploited by being told it’s for OUR own good. What a load of garbage.
There should be total government spending transparency. that way people can see how much of THEIR hard earned money is being constantly wasted by those who just steal it and hide behind “the law”.
March 11th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
More Police Patrol cars is the way to go. Just weatch how everyone slows on the rare occasions one does appear.
March 11th, 2010 at 8:32 pm
If drivers are doing the right thing there is nothing to fear. If those who can’t be responsible drivers, then they deserve to get caught & fined.
March 11th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
If the Government was serious about reducing the road toll they would offer discounted advanced driver training to interested drivers, all who attend have a different view of driving, a better one.
Also all speed cameras should not have any warning signs they are ahead. All of us would quickly learn to keep it down.
Finally the speed limits in country areas should revert to the prima facie system, as fast as you can with safety.
March 11th, 2010 at 8:42 pm
sorry to me another money raiser for the state Gov that is broke and the RTA who endevour to become a defacto police force{ god forbid] travel Pennant Hills road and watch the line of B doubles each day never the regulated distance between them run the red lights or tear through the amber lights , OH sorry they are the knights of the road if you know what I mean . If they stop these dreadnoughts from running the lights GREAT 30 plus tons against my 3/4 ton no match.
sneaky YES but obey the road rules and what is the problem you will not need to smile as you speed through .
March 11th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
What a lot of law breakers out there. I live in the Newcastle area and constantly see drivers of cars and trucks running red lights especially at the Hexham intersection of the New England & Pacific Highways. This is only one intersection that it happens at. Some have gone through the when the opposite direction is green. If you are doing nothing wrong, then what have you to worry about. As previous bloggers have said- stick to the rules and avoid the penality.
March 11th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
I live in newcastle and the lights here have a longer amber time before the red (an experiment from years ago never changed). Whilst I don’t drive into the city every day I have seen very few red light incidents over the past 20yrs. Maybe the RTA should look into this if they are serious about safety
March 11th, 2010 at 9:51 pm
“Safety” cameras my hat. They are simple revenue raising devices. If the RTA and the government were serious about road safety they would upgrade the standards of our roads. Instead they throw up smokescreens to divert attention away from their failings.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
This will sure slow down the P platers. What a good idea. Not to worry….just don’t speed. If you keep to the speed limit, you got nothing to worry about, right????
March 11th, 2010 at 11:09 pm
Only in Australia… anything to make a buck at the expence of the tax payer. Like we dont get ripped off enough already!
If these cameras actually do help (would like to see the evidence that they do) and the revenue raised was put to good use, then hey, by all means. But we all know, the $$$ evaporates, and not reinvested in our roads.
Actually i take that back, they put speed humps/islands/round abouts, but dont fix the other 10 wholes on the road. LOL.
Its a pitty but i dont see accidents & road tolls changing much, there are way too many hopeless drivers out there.
We only have ourselves to blame for these cameras, we dont have the cahunas to stand up as a society and say NO to the government.
Governments come n go, we stay around, so they can fill up their pokets, take trips, and then blame each other for the state of things.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:16 pm
So called Safety Cameras will not stop intersection accidents, which are the result of carelessness or negligence. They are therefore just another grab at revenue.
The NSW Labor Government has done more to frustrate drivers and destroy transport than any government prior. Driving around Sydney is like torture. You cant move 100m with out a red light, traffic travels at 20km on most main and arterial roads the roads are shrinking and disappearing as they are being taken up by special interest groups like the greens who want to stop pollution, the bike riders or should I call them the RTA and the public transport brigade who want all cars off the road. unfortunately some of us have no choice we drive for a living but we are the ones that that have to suffer. Yes there are some stupid idiots on the road that do the wrong thing but there are a whole other group of stupid idiots that have no common sense and don’t pay attention to the road. when a light goes green they just sit there when they finally decide to go the light turns orange and only they or perhaps one other lucky soul gets through. Where is the fine for this kind of negligent driving. How about the people who drive at 20 to 30km/h everywhere your on a freeway with a speed limit of 80km and both lanes are traveling at 30 to 40km/h, not because of a traffic jam but because two slow cars are blocking both lanes and no one can pass. Where’s the speed camera for them? we need police on the road to stop the idiots not more cameras.
All this bull about saving lives, the cameras are being put at busy intersections where they can get the most revenue. They are not going to save a single life. Look at the stats Victoria has thees cameras and many more speed cameras than NSW and their road death toll just keeps going up. Yet all you here are tough talking ministers looking for a votes from bias anti car groups or ignorant individuals who think a camera is going to solve a much bigger systemic problem. We just avoid them causing a whole new set of problems. Stop the tough talk. make our roads safer stop making more rules to raise revenue make it simpler and clearer to drive on our roads, multiple speed limits together with a whole range of signage and rules that changes every 100m is not safe. Open roads back up and teach people how to drive and pay attention to the road.
As for pedestrians teach them to look before crossing the road, I was taught as a child but no one is doing this with children at school any more or on TV.
Anywhere near a busy shopping area you will see pedestrians running across a busy road, walking against don’t walk signs and some times just standing on the road talking to a friend with cars having to dodge them. wheres the cameras or police for them? No it’s the motorist who is always at fault.
I will be voting this government out.
March 12th, 2010 at 5:42 am
As usual the RTA and politicians roll out an ineffective and flawed response to road safety. Anything that distracts the driver from watching the road rather than their speedo increases the risk of an accident while reinforcing a false sense of security.
55km/h in a 60 zone is dangerous if you are not looking at the road, whereas 70 in a 60 can be perfectly safe if the conditions are right and the driver is looking and allowing plenty of reaction time.
In Sweden (and many other countries), there is a countdown displayed alongside red lights so that traffic can slow and avoid stopping altogether. Its a pity that all our RTA can do is devise new and sneaky ways to disrupt traffic and raise revenue.
Australian traffic authorities are a sick joke, and the media doesn’t help by following along blindly with their schemes.
March 12th, 2010 at 6:25 am
It is only revenue raising. Here in the ACT they regularly place mobile speed detector vans about 500m before or after our speed cameras which is an obvious ploy to raise revenue from both. Just for once I would like to see the numbers on how many crashes and deaths these speed / red light cameras prevent at the sites selected. I would bet that they don’t really achieve much and more importantly they never seem to be sighted on the worst black spots but rather the intersections or roads where the speed limit is set far below what the road can handle just to raise revenue. To truly cover an intersection why isn’t there a camera sited on all stopping points rather than only on one.
March 12th, 2010 at 6:33 am
I’ve noticed a number of comments siting cars and trucks regularly running the lights at certain intersections around the state and I’ll bet the main reason is because the phasing of the lights is such that if you get stuck at one in a sequence of intersections lights you will catch every red light thereafter. We have a main road here on the south side of Canberra where this is true. If you catch one red light you will get all the others so drivers speed between the sets and even run a changing light so as to avoid getting all the others. For many motorists during peak hour this could add 15 minutes to a trip and I would guess for them it is a risk well worth taking.
On a secondary point I have always wondered why people seem to race to get to a job they have and will happily put up with the traffic jams on their way home. I would have thought it would be the other way around in that home life is more important to get to than any job.
March 12th, 2010 at 7:09 am
Unquestionably red light and speed cameras modify driver behaviour. Is it just a revenue raising exercise….possibly but I’d rather have the yobbos paying fines than me paying more taxes to support additional policing of our roads. Point to point speed cameras on the highways next please.
March 12th, 2010 at 8:19 am
I love how people think that watching their speed and obeying the speed limit is a new thing since speed cameras were introduced.
Oh, and red light running and speeding through intersections is okay as well…
Get over your paranoia and drive according to the law, your license is a privilege not a right!
March 12th, 2010 at 8:35 am
About time, when are people going to realise driving is a priveledge not a right. If you break the law you pay. Yes lets raise some revenue from the law breakers, Then us honest drivers will pay less. Get real “its a crime to break the rules”
March 12th, 2010 at 8:54 am
What happens if a truck wipes out the only sign and it does not get replaced for weeks, does everybody booked get refunded?
Maybe install speed camera signs at the 3 sets of lights before and after the actual set of lights with the camera. This may make 10 sets of lights safer with only 1 speed camera installed and drivers will have plenty of notice that a speed camera is in the area.
March 12th, 2010 at 9:06 am
More over regulated living standards to abide by for the sake of revenue raising. This state and country has too many laws and regulations, everyone in a uniform thinks they are a cop. And I love these do-gooders who blab on about breaking the law as you watch them speed past you because they are late for an appointment. When police release figures for how many speeding drivers they have caught over a holiday period (at double demerit points), it goes to show how many people don’t agree with the speed limit set so low to travel around this enormous country. I agree there are some idiots out there on the road, but double hitting cameras don’t save lives, medical personell do. Give us auto bahns connecting all our cities as like in Germany, and get off our backs with fines for everything, Singapore here we come, it’s a FINE city!
March 12th, 2010 at 9:17 am
Put red light cameras on every set of traffic lights to prevent the increasing number of incredibly selfish people sneaking through for the sake of a minute or 2. I am definitely seeing this more often now than a few years ago. I have no problem if cameras were on all lights! I have seen so many close shaves that I wish I was a cop at times.
The speed detection aspect concerns me because you have to keep an eye on your speedo, the lights, the car in front, the one behind……for those easily distracted, or new to the area, this may lead to more accidents. Yes I know drivers should be doing this anyway but reality is different.
Its very easy to creap over the limit when moving with the traffic flow, so those who say they don’t go over the speed limit, might be stretching the truth.
March 12th, 2010 at 9:24 am
Most problems at traffic lights could be solved by the amber light at
1. Increase the amber light time
2. Have amber light flash for 50% of it’s time and not flashing for the second half of the time it is showing
Then have completely covert cameras with increased penalties. I have been driving for 54 years with a good record and believe we have to eliminate the honest mistake before penalising and then have heavy penalties for those who choose to offend rather than simply make an honest mistake of judgement.
We need to apply this sort of strategy to many other areas of driving if we really want to be ‘fair dinkum’ but alsa I have the feeling that RTA is rarely fair dinkum!!!
March 12th, 2010 at 9:33 am
Perhaps will cause more deaths due to an increase in rear end collisions by a truck that can’t stop in time when the car in front decides to stop as soon as the amber light comes on. I heard from a fried in Queensland it is now illegal to run even an amber traffic light, and police are starting to crack down on them. If this is true then it proves the world is going mad and they might as well just have a red and green light. I hope it isn’t true for our sakes.
March 12th, 2010 at 9:42 am
Have NEVER had a speed camera/red light infringement. I agree that drivers whose speed is more than just a few km over or go through a red light should be penalised.
The points that are a worry :1 calibration of these devices 2 If you are fined as a breadwinner for a low-income household this could equate to family not eating properly. 3 cars not being properly maintained because of loss of income due to infringement. 4 We are ONLY HUMAN and do make the occasional error in judgement.
Thanks NRMA for your concerns & no thanks to a RTA bureaucracy that creates a lot more stress in peoples lives and are more concerned with revenue raising than saving lives. If you genuinely agree about safety aspects why make cars that can drive excessively fast.
March 12th, 2010 at 10:22 am
As Luke Says: March 12th, 2010 at 6:33 am phasing of the lights is such that if you get stuck at one in a sequence of intersections lights you will catch every red light thereafter. My god I thought every one would be aware of this by now.
Why is the RTA doing this? depending on the time of day the road can be free and clear and yet the lights are timed to make you stop at each set, even when there is no traffic coming from the other side and the only way to get out of this trap is to beat the light change or travel at 1/3 of the speed limit all the way that is 20km/h in a 60 zone all the way.
Get some good driver education programs not just teaching road rules but common sense, courtesy and paying attention to the road. If every one drove with just those three things in mind we would hardly need any rules.
Get the hoons off the road but stop frustrating drivers to get them to change to public transport. Some of us have no choice and those that do, have a very poor choice because it’s so bad or nonexistent.
Making it harder and frustrating or confusing to drive is just dangerous and costing billions in lost productivity and lives.
Fix the transport system in NSW, open up our roads and stop frustrating and revenue raising from motorists.
To all you greenies and car hating groups out there who want all cars off the road get over it, go and live in Venice or make the government give us good public transport but not at the expense of people who have to be on the road to make a living.
March 12th, 2010 at 11:06 am
I have always driven in excess of 40,000km/year but have never had a speed camera/red light infringement in 40years of driving, but I must admit to having gone marginally late through redlights on some occassions.
However, increasingly I have observed cars and MORE OFTEN THAN NOT TRUCKS going through redlights at speed and extremily late – this needs to be stop and the measures being put into place seam reasonable as long as there is some latitude.
More importantly if the RTA, State and Federal Govts are serious about road safety there are far more important areas to address, which as a consequence may not allow them to achieve there revenue raising objects. The most obvious to most drivers but rarely considered is the need to reduce the size and number of trucks on the road, limit the speed of these killing machines and develop rail further for freight and not reduce it.
March 12th, 2010 at 11:11 am
Having spent 25 of my 28 years as a Police Officer in Highway Patrol and driver training, I feel that the introduction of red light/speed cameras is long overdue. They should ultimately be installed at all intersections controlled by T.C.L.S. They will eventually be seen as a greater safety value than the current fixed speed cameras, some of which are located in duboius positions.
I note several comments concerning the increase of ‘rear enders’, and sugest that if drivers maintained a reasonable gap and were more observant of surraouning conditions there would be no increase, and perhaps a decrease, in so called ‘rear enders’ at these intersections.
March 12th, 2010 at 11:54 am
Speed cameras,Red light cameras and Radar,are they really revenue raisers?…..If everyone didn’t speed or run red lights for 1 year the State government would go broke,so who’s at fault,the revenue raisers or the drivers.Try this for an experiment, drive at the speed limit and see how many drivers overtake.
March 12th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Bring back covert cameras.
Bring in surprise tests for alcohol/drugs in blood.
Stiff fines & gaol sentences/loss of licenses for people with alcohol/drug readings over limit .
Only recently someone was caught driving ~100kms over the limit. I would have given him a gaol sentence and cancellation of license.
Make the punishment far more draconian!
March 12th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
More Speed/Red Light Cameras Please. If you don’t want to contribute to revenue raising DON’T SPEED. If you can not control your car/truck to stay under the speed limit, hand your license in today. If a fine in the mail doesn’t deter someone from speeding again, then why do you think a fine at the time of the offense will. Idiots are idiots 24/7.
Over 1.2 million people in the world die each year because of car crashes.
SLOW DOWN!!!!
March 12th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Good . So many drivers run red lights because they don’t have any patients.
They need more police on the road.How do cameras detect P plate drivers when their P plates are half hidden behind their number plates.
March 12th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Again RTA is nibbling around the edges.More revenue raising is not the solution to undisciplined drivers who think they are beyond the law.
Driver training is the only way to EDUCATE drivers to comply with road laws .Licences are not valued by especially young drivers who regularly drive while suspended or drive unregistered vehicles. Bring a rewards system for drivers observed “doing the right thing” especially provisional drivers . Definately have more unmarked police cars . Make drivers going for licences pay more for licence fees . Licences are a privilige not a right ,earn respect for your right to drive
March 12th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
I do not understand how hard you try and add these different cameras nobody will slow for long. Why tell people a camera is there?, they only slow long enough to get passed the position and then continue to speed.
QUESTION
I know twins that got their licences at the same time. The considerate twin is a careful driver never speeding and following all the road rules the other twin lost his P’s speeding within the first 3 months and again within weeks of getting them back again. The considerate boy had to cart his twin around all over the place each time he was suspended. I do not understand why the suspended driver managed to get his Green P’s within days of returning to driving a car when he ad been suspended for 6 months and had done no driving. He is now on the road allowed to do a 100, How is this teaching the young drivers anything? He should at least had to re do the red P duration again.
March 12th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Can anyone explain to me the rules concerning the driving speed limit on the roads, I no longer drive as I have a health problem and would never forgive myself if I hurt someone while driving, but when I sat for my written and driving test, I was taught that you could go no faster than the speed limit indicated on the road, but you didn’t have to actually do that speed eg. 100kms- you could do up to 100 kms but not go over that 100kms speed limit, but everyone seems to think that you have to sit right on the 100km speed now-a-days, is this why there are so many accidents and deaths on the road today, as people should drive accordingly to the road, environment, traffic conditions, weather, road conditions etc is what I was taught, but the drivers today don’t seem to consider these conditions anymore. Also have you noticed that there seems to be more deaths in car accidents now, I believe new vehicles do not have supports around the car and are supposed to crumble – which is supposed to be safer for the occupants of the vehicle, but I have noticed that the cars completely crumble into a matchbox and kill the occupants, has anyone else noticed this? I also believe there should be more police cars out on the roads, controlling the speedsters than relying on speed cameras etc, people don’t seem to care if they get fined, they either don’t pay the fines or their friends think they are cool, one young person told me that they would use their allowance from Centrelink to pay the fines, didn’t worry them that they had broken the law and put someone else in danger.
March 12th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
It is interesting that there is not a sign indicating the speed limit with the “Safety Camera” sign. I feel that this is intentional so that you are left wondering exactly what the limit there is. (Is it 50km/h or 60km/h or 70km/h or 80km/h or 90km/h? All these speeds are common around Sydney) Mostly traffic will travel at a speed that most feel comfortable with, regardless of the posted limit.
Also, while the intention of “Don’t Speed and You Won’t Be Caught” is great in principle, it repeatedly doesn’t work when it is a known fact that speed cameras are not accurate and are not tested in accordance with the national standards for measurement equipment as they are required to be.
It is better to be paying attention to the environment that you are travelling in than it is to be fixated on the Speedo.
A more holistic approach to traffic management, driver education and road sense is a better solution to decreasing traffic related incidents than the smothering, money grabbing actions of our current (as past) governments.
March 12th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
As the song says ” the best things in life are free, but you can keep them for the birds and bess, just give me money, that’s what I want, a lot of money.
A Government bereft of genuine ideas chasing the buck.
The cleverest thing was the person who decided to call them safety cameras instaed of speeding cameras and red light cameras. It all is just for our benefit, how nice.
March 13th, 2010 at 10:57 am
More revenue raising, what a joke!
When are they going to realise drivers must be trained how to drive?
Very frustrating.
March 13th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
I wish ALL traffic lights had safety cameras. I have lost track of how many times I have nearly been wiped out by idiots speeding through a red light. No amount of driver education will stop an idiot from ignoring a red light … they know what a red light means … maybe having to part with their cash may deter them, because the red light doesn’t!
March 13th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
Really wish they would earmark some of the obvious revenue grab and use it to fix, or at least arrest the rapidly declining condition of Sydney roads.
Surely road and vehicle condition is the next most pressing safety issue after red light and speed infractions – and one the government could actually be pro-active on. Is there any balance to this sytem consisting of of punitive control? Spend instead of collect? Not likely…
March 13th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
It’s about time. Drivers shooting through red lights seems to be on the increase as people seem to feel that their time is so important they cannot wait or they are so stressed that they need the adrenalin rush. As both a driver and a pedestrian I notice it happening several times a day and, sadly, it’s usually a taxi.
Anything to stop (or punish) this modern day stress is a move in the right direction.
March 13th, 2010 at 11:56 pm
All the negative commenters need only wait until all road fines are linked to income, just like Finland, …. then we’ll see some even more preposterous comments.
March 14th, 2010 at 8:31 am
I am not a perfect driver – I have been ‘pinged’ a couple of times for (very) minor speed offences over the years, but I do try to stick to the rules, even when I think they are stupid, so I don’t have any fear of being ‘caught’ by the camera – hidden or obvious. Why do some people, who obviously think that they are ‘good’ drivers, feel that they cannot keep to the speed limit in any area, or just can’t observe other road rules? When traffic lights change from green to amber it is an advance warning, and means that the red light is imminent. If you are already on or are entering the crossing WHEN THE LIGHTS GO AMBER, keep going! What part is hard to understand about ‘you MUST NOT proceed through the red light’?
I see the road rules as protecting me and my family from idiots who would run rampant without them. I like the cameras, I agree with penalties for driving offences, and if I ever have to pay a penalty for an unintentional driving transgression I just hope it is no more than a small fine. Why should I or any other normally responsible road user feel any sympathy for an ignorant, inattentive or arrogant driver deliberately doing the wrong thing, and possibly causing an accident which could ruin someone’s life.
It would be good to see a penalty system which recognised a good driving record, and applied the more severe penalties when serial offenders were identified.
For repeat offenders, if you cannot keep to the speed limit, or if you run the amber/red, I hope the cameras get you, you are fined heavily, and eventually your driving licence is pulled. I sure don’t want to share the road with you.
March 14th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
So now I have the opportunity of being rear ended by 26 tonnes of semi trailer that has tailgated me on Parramatta Road.
I try not to run orange lights but there are circumstances when you just have to.
Will the speed/ red light cameras take into account the safety factor and show the reason why the action was required? Or is the RTA satisfied/convinced that driving on Sydney roads is stop/go and no maybe/perhaps.
March 14th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
I predict more accidents at intersections with double cameras, people will be watching their speedometer and not the road.
These are just another disgusting money grab in my opinion.
March 14th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
Whats the problem, heavy foot heavy fine. Buy lighter shoes.
March 14th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
While I am completely for red light cameras, I am wondering how are they going to reduce the risks by incorporating speed cameras as well? Why instead there not installed more red light cameras and the RTA to lift the bar in licensing drivers? Why they do not look at the current situation on the roads and do something that really will bring a benefit to all of us other then finding more methods of ripping money off. However, the speed is something that can be measured – and it very easy to cash in, while leaving the other real issues under the carpet.
March 14th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
What happens if after speeding through one a policeman pulls you up and he writes a time on the infringement notice that isn’t the exact time on the one that gets sent out to you by the safety camera so you end up with two fines for the one offence. What then, can we expect the policeman to have a watch or a clock or whatever that is set on the exact time that the camera has. I think not.
March 15th, 2010 at 11:03 am
I believe that if the RTA was trying to reduce accidents rather than increase revenue, there would be 3 clearly visible signs warning of the camera as with current fixed speed cameras. Peering a speed camera with a red light might be more dangerous as you have to pay attention to the speed especially when going down the hill, that may mean you might miss the lights all together or realise till to late
Sometimes it safer when the light goes amber to speed up to go through the intersection than its is to try & stop as you wont be able to stop in time thus blocking the intersection or causing an accident as there was a truck behind you in which had no hope of stoping in time. It’s a great system where you would usually increase speed when this happens and not even get a fine for the red as you have made it through you will now get a ticket for speeding.
Not all red lights are in front of a school with speed limits of 40km an hour some like the intersection on the corner of Ryde Rd, Pymble, NSW & Lady game drive, which is down a steep hill with a speed limit of 80kms an hour you can’t just stop that in a couple of meters & the bigger the vehicle longer the distance. I wounder people freaking out about fines wether there will be more rear end incidents as people slam on there breaks as soon as the see a small hint of amber weather it is appropriate or not I have never rear ended some one when I have speed up to get through, but I do believe it possible when everyone is doing the opposite to avoid multiple fines
March 15th, 2010 at 11:38 am
Momentarily slipping a few Kms over the limit does not constitute dangerous driving, but the fear of copping a fine making you focus more and more attention on your speed rather than driving safely is.
Sue commented that checking your speed should be only one part of driving, and of course i should, but i do not speed, have never received a speeding or red light fine and find myself focused more on checking my speed constantly than on everything else involved in safe driving.
The RTA should focus more on proper road maintenance, better road design and training people to drive properly (including how to use their indicator, it’s NOT an optional extra)
March 15th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
These new cameras will cause more congestion at traffic lights, everyone knows with a queue of more six vehicles at the lights there is at least a fifteen second delay before all the traffic is flowing at the speed limit.
THis has to be revenue raising.
March 15th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
I think that the safety cameras will only serve to bump up the treasury coffers and will result in more unsafe driving practices as people either watch their speedos instead of the traffic at the intersection, or stop at an intersection when they would have normally (safely) gone through. It surely cannot be regarded as safe to stop at a traffic light for fear of getting a fine when you have a loaded semi-trailer in your tail which is travelling at the speed limit.
This is typical of an RTA intent on increasing revenue, following on from their attempt to have fines instituted for any speed over the speed limit, even though the readability of speedometers is 5 km/hr and the radar devices are only good for around +/- 3 km/hr from their calibration.
March 15th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
It will no doubt improve the intersections record by reducing collisions within the intersection, however I wonder if anyone is going to count the collisions (rear enders) just prior to the confines of the intersection. It seems that anyone can cause or be involved in a collision just so long as its not within the confines of the intersection.
March 15th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
I am amazed at the number of negative responses to the cameras. If your not speeding or running red lights what is there to worry about. Obviously a lot of people feel its OK to speed, I see it all the time while driving. More technology should be used to help keep drivers within the limits and obeying the rules. Only then will we see a dramatic reduction the the road toll.
March 15th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
More lives might be saved- theoretically.
Of course everything the gov decides is
in the mind- it’s validity in the real world
is pot-luck as it is detached from the people.
No surveys done. Make it up as they go.
Lives might be saved – we’ll see. Def more rear-enders- costs assoc with that
and traffic jams on major roads as people
sort the collision out. Maybe people will speed
before the intersection to make up for the
deceleration at the lights.
Only Solution is to reduce people and car density
through town planning and public transport- Sydney
is therefore doomed- accept it and smile or don’t
accept it and leave and still smile or change it- but
the odds of that succeeding are low.
March 16th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
The obsession with catching motorists; to employ the latest technology to terrify them into complying with the letter of the law sounds great in theory, but it is going the wrong way.
All those measures serve only to raise stress levels and distract motorists from watching the road and the conditions around them. They actually make it more difficult to be a good driver.
A green light does not mean GO, it means check if cross traffic has properly responded to its red light – then GO.
RTA is out of control – they go too far. The RTA and all it’s practices need to undergo a thorough and public review.
March 16th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
It’s quite simple really:
> If the cameras reduce the number of casualty crashes at intersections by around 30 per cent, as the RTA advises, then this is a safety driven initiative.
> If it doesn’t then it’s another revenue raising exercise.
> If it increases the number of accidents, as is suggested in some of the comments above, then the “RTA initiator” should be penalised in the same way Workcover penalises anyone who makes a work place unsafe.
Just remember:
> Currently 20% of all licensed drivers and riders are being penalised annually for exceeding speed limits.
> The percentage of speed related crashes remains unchanged since the early 90’s;
> The potential benefits of the introduction of fixed speed cameras has yet to be realised as the RTA’s road accident data reflects.
>The only quantifiable “benefit” of speed enforcement remains a $100M income stream which hasn’t helped complete the Pacific Hwy upgrade on time!
March 18th, 2010 at 10:59 am
Drivers tend to either speed up or pull to a stop when the amber light comes up depending how close they are to the intersection. These new cameras will catch every one going faster through the traffic lights on amber if they are driving near the speed limit.
This should not be their function or their intention as this is not an unsafe act but a drivers reaction to a normal situation.
March 28th, 2010 at 6:23 am
Why is the signage so small if they are a deterrent – Evidence of revenue raising for a bankrupt state
March 30th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Its quite simple, dont speed, dont run red lights, no problem. The government and the police would think it was heaven if they didnt raise one cent from these new cameras!!!
April 2nd, 2010 at 9:51 am
Every comment above is correct. None of you want there to be deaths or injuries on our roads. None of you want to be involved in accidents. So many of you say “don’t speed – don’t get fined”. So true yet so many people still do. “Don’t run red lights – don’t get fined”, yet so many people still do.
Australian Governments pull in 100′s of millions of dollars in fines every year. It would seem to me that if fines are an effective way to ensure compliance with the rules then Governments would not be receiving so much money from fines, regardless of the mechanism used to detect the infringement.
There must be a better way to ensure compliance with the road rules by everyone. It just seems to me that if we want to try and eliminate death and suffering on our roads then it may mean initiatives that actually cost money rather than raise it.
April 10th, 2010 at 9:29 am
I am certainly a supporter of red light cameras. I believe that not only do they deter drivers from running the red but when a collision occurs it shows the driver at fault regardless of the versions of the drivers and witnesses.
Speed cameras in this instance, ie speed and red light cameras, I believe will deter drivers from running the red. If drivers were to consult the Road Rules, running a yellow light will give them a nice little amount to pay to the government when they are able to and safely stop so if the cameras are set only to identify vehicles after the red light I think you must argue to RTA and is being quite fair.
Speed cameras on the the other hand are vary rarely for safety in my opinion. They appear to be set in areas where drivers might speed up but very rarley in black spots and usually on good (for competent drivers) sections of roadway. In any case Highway Patrol, with the support of cameras to record evidence, is what is needed more that stand alone speed cameras. The only people that are caught in these speed camera only zones are cars with the correct plates on and that are correctly displayed and unobscured and registered to an individual who has not the time, money or inclination to defend the matter at court. Police need to do what they they are designed for, policing people, that is observe drivers, passengers and vehicles and detect all offences including both traffic and other offences. Some very good arrests of the more serious at large offenders have been because the Highway Patrol Officer has detected an issue with a driver or vehicle. A speed camera can not do this, therefore an intoxicated, drug offending criminal in a stolen car will not get caught by a speed camera. A generally honest and usually law abiding person will. Of course it is this exactly the person who the government needs to catch because they can fund their spending.
April 11th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
I think they are only allowed to install thee camerias if there is a redlight countdown like overseas traffice lights.
I drive a landcruiser and tow a big boat about 3 tons so roughtly a 5.5 ton combination. What are our choices when we come up to these interesections.
All red light cameras should have a red light countdown
April 11th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
In germany they have proven that they have lifted the national road speed average as well as having unlimited autobarns and there accident and death rates have gone down over the last 30 years.
Australia has still got it wrong.
They need to improve roads and road designs to stop people from dying the germans have proved it
April 13th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
The number of idiots running red lights is astounding these days.
I say red light cameras on EVERY set of lights.Combo with speed cameras or not.
Then everyone will know where they are and if you run it, you’ll be booked.
April 16th, 2010 at 7:28 am
Too many speed limits is the problem. It is too confusing for motorists and this is turning ordinary people into violators.
Get rid of these stupid 50, 70 and 90 zones and lets go back to 60,80, 100.
How about getting the speed limit up to 120 on these divided roads? There is bugger all danger but I don’t think politicians have the backbone to do this.
April 28th, 2010 at 7:58 am
Peter above has a valid point. I have some friends who moved to England back in 1995. Just last week they came back to Sydney for a visit. Their comment was that it was almost impossible to tell what the speed limit was at any point. The type of road gave no clues as to what the limit may have been.
There was a time when in a built up area it was 60, outside it was 80 or 100. You really did not need the sign to know what the speed limit was. In my 18Km trip to the city there are 11 changes of speed limit. There used to be 3.
June 21st, 2010 at 10:41 pm
can you tell were the red light cam are in canberra
June 25th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
There is a difference between a hoon and a regular sensible driver that may have slipped over the limit a few km’s but is still driving safely, in control and aware of thier environment. The problem with cameras instead of police regulating safe driving is that the cameras are unable to distinguish this difference. Poor signage is what the real safety problem is here, especially for drivers that are driving in a new area. The cameras have absolutely nothing to do with safety and provide nothing more than a distraction and frustration to the community.
July 12th, 2010 at 1:49 am
Just one more reason to throw out this totally incompetent government at the next election, the sooner the better.
July 12th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
People in Australia are driving slow enough already and sydney is too big to drive by the speed limit. The roads need to be improved and there needs to be driver education like in europe. we need proper motorways where there are speeds of 130-140km/h. 90-100km/h isnt a motorway.
August 24th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
These cameras are just to make money, but do more for saftey on roads then just speed cameras and red light cameras separate, but cameras that i think which would make the roads safer:
1. intersection cameras for when the lights change for those few seconds if someone is in the middle blocking traffic then they need to be book as they cause road rage of the other direction.
2. average speed cameras, cameras that sit over all lanes on highways picking up all drivers speeds and if someone is doing less then 10km then everyone else they need to be book for underspeeding as people cause people to change lanes and create more road rage, then someone doing 5km over, but there is more fines for that