Caleb Bond: The government has its money, so that’s the most important thing

If speeding fines were honestly about slowing down drivers then why do police go to such effort to hide their costly tactics, writes Caleb Bond.

It is hardly a surprise that more speeding fines have been issued since the state government removed the warning signs for mobile speed cameras.

One can only imagine that is the result they were after.

What other reason is there to not warn people to slow down – but instead allow them to keep speeding down whatever stretch of road they’re on and only face consequences weeks later when a fine lobs in the letterbox?

By that time, their connection to the offence is long gone. But the government has its money, so that’s the most important thing.

A 32 per cent increase in people being caught by mobile speeding cameras – an extra 28,836 fines during Covid-19 times when far fewer people were driving to work and the like – is extraordinary.

Mobile cameras now make up about half of all speeding fines issued and last financial year netted $48.8m.

Cutting edge mobile speed cameras are believed partly responsible for a huge increase in fines. Pictures: 9 NEWS

The number of fines coming from fixed speed cameras and police officers fell at the same time, which makes sense because fewer people would have been on the road.

These new mobile speed cameras are almost impossible to recognise.

They are often Volkswagen vans. It’s not until you get close and you notice a camera in the back and a small flashing light that you can tell what it is.

These cameras, which were introduced at the end of 2019, are a complete departure from the old system, where speed cameras were clearly labelled with signs to encourage people to slow down.

If there were some kind of immediate and present danger posed by people speeding on a particular stretch of road, that is surely the objective you would want to achieve?

If a camera is being deployed to a problem area where there is a history of danger to people’s safety, then it is a worthwhile exercise.

But if they are being dropped in locations where there is little evidence of danger, without any obvious warning they are there to make people slow down, then what are they but revenue raisers on wheels?

Take the location where mobile speed cameras now catch the most speeding motorists – the Northern Connector.

It has only been open for 18 months. But 4453 people were caught speeding on it in the 2020/21 financial year. That’s 2612 more fines than the second-most-profitable stretch of road – the 50km/h section of Military Rd at West Beach.

There have been 20 crashes and five injuries on the Northern Connector since it opened. None of them were serious injuries.

Roughly one minor crash a month – none of which have killed anyone or put anyone in a serious way – and this is where speed cameras are being deployed to rake in cash.

Does that seem like a reasonable use of speed camera resources to you?

It is a new and efficient stretch of road. Motorists clearly feel comfortable driving on it at high speed because it is safe. The statistics, as I just showed, clearly back that up despite the fact it has more speeding motorists than anywhere else in Adelaide.

So is speed really a problem there?

It is a similar story on the 50km/h stretch of Military Rd at West Beach. There has been one serious injury since 2016 – and that was after someone hit a parked car at night.

The road toll this year is higher than it was at the same time last year, even with reduced traffic because of Covid. So you can hardly argue hidden mobile speed cameras have had a positive effect on road safety.

When NSW did away with marked mobile speed cameras in 2020, speeding-fine revenue went up so much they were raking in the same amount of money in a month that they previously received in a year.

There was also a sharp rise in people fined for speeding less than 10km/h over the limit.

This government has previously removed fixed speed cameras where they were found to not be of use.

They must now reinstate signage for mobile cameras and only deploy them where they are needed for safety reasons.

Otherwise, they should just admit that speed cameras are revenue raisers