RAA uses police statistics to reveal the top 20 sites for speeding fines in South Australia
Police data has revealed the locations of the speed cameras which have caught the most speeding drivers in the past financial year.
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South Australia’s lead-foot motorists are saving their worst behaviour for one of the state’s most dangerous roads, with two South Eastern Freeway cameras reaping the most profits for Government coffers.
The fixed freeway cameras at Leawood Gardens and at Crafers caught 4976 and 3678 motorists respectively in the last financial year, costing them $2,015,454 and $1,429,355.
The cameras were installed after a run of truck deaths on the freeway in 2014 and 2015 and were last year upgraded to enforce new speed limits.
Another serious crash happened just today – with a truck ploughing into six cars and clipping a cyclist at the base of the freeway.
The RAA has used police statistics to reveal the worst ten fixed and mobile speed camera locations in the state, with most in the Adelaide suburbs.
RAA spokesman Charles Mountain said it was very concerning that the most common speeding offence through cameras was for 10-19km/h above the limit.
“Research shows speed continues to be a major contributing factor to serious and fatal crashes,” he said.
“Even small increases in speed mean you travel a longer distance before you react, combined with a longer stopping distance.”
The police figures show in 2018/19 there were 202,148 speeding fines issued, 82,034 from fixed cameras, 80,813 from mobile cameras and 39,301 from police officers. Statewide police figures show rather than “creeping” through the speed traps at 5-9km/h above the limit – which 76,918 motorists did – the most common offence is 10-19kmph over the limit, which attracted 110,599 fines.
In the worst cases, 1880 people were fined for doing more than 45km/h over the limit, 2414 for 30-44km/h over the limit and 10,337 for 20-29km/h over the limit.
But the RAA is happy that the number of motorists caught speeding through intersections with fixed cameras was declining, as are serious injury crashes.
In dollar terms, in the past five financial years, the value of fines from fixed speed cameras has fallen from $33,069,381 in 2014/15 to $25,693,457 in 2018/19.
But mobile cameras and officer-issued fines continue to be more lucrative, increasing from $21,782,043 to $24,280,358 over the same period.
“Motorists are not only saving millions of dollars in fines, but most importantly reducing the risk of death and serious injury for all road users,’’ Mr Mountain said.
He said it was disappointing that the same downward trend wasn’t evident among mobile camera and police officer issued speeding fines during this period.
