Fines in regional areas soar as police focus on bad country driving

Just because you “know the road” doesn’t mean you can go that fast – and police are cracking down, with speeding fines surging in some SA areas. Here’s where.

The number of motorists caught speeding on regional South Australian roads by police has soared by more than a third in the past three years.

And police are becoming less lenient on drivers they pull over in the country.

Police figures obtained by the RAA show officers issued 21,383 roadside speeding fines worth $12.6m in the past financial year.

This is a 37 per cent increase on the 15,560 fines handed out in regional SA in 2018-19.

Officers issued 18,352 roadside speeding fines worth $10.1m in 2019-20.

The revelation comes ahead of the school holidays, which begin at the end of this week, and the Labour Day long weekend starting October 2.

“Speeding – especially on roads with limits of 90km/h to 110km/h – can have potentially catastrophic consequences for you, your loved ones and other roads users,’’ RAA safety and infrastructure senior manager Charles Mountain said.

“Motorists must also adjust their speed accordingly when speed limits change as they approach towns or roadworks.

“This revelation comes on the eve of school holidays and the looming October long weekend, when motorists make an exodus to vacation destinations across the state.”

Mr Mountain said figures also showed police were running out of patience with the worst drivers.

“Last year, 70 per cent of offenders were fined, compared to 66 per cent in 2019-20 and 60 per cent in 2018-19,” he said.

A SAPOL officer uses a laser gun in Taperoo. Picture Simon Cross

The Advertiser this week revealed police were shooting a new road safety advertisement focusing on rural roads that will go to air during the school holidays.

It aims to address statistics that show people are twice as likely to die on regional roads than those in metropolitan areas.

“The number of motorists who instantly lost their licence for speeding 45km/h or more above the limit on regional roads increased 20 per cent over these three years,’’ Mr Mountain said.

The biggest roadside speeding detection increases happened in the Barossa Valley, which was up 133 per cent, and Mid North and Yorke Peninsula, which were up 45 per cent over the three-year period.

The figures did not include about 26,000 motorists who were caught speeding by mobile cameras each year on country roads. This has remained similar over the three years.

Mr Mountain said the bad behaviour was not limited to speeding. The number of drivers pulled over by officers for unsafe overtaking increased from 230 in 2018-19 to 243 in 2019-20 and 277 in the past financial year.