Speed camera hot spots revealed for Ipswich, Toowoomba

SPEED camera hot spots have been revealed for two of southeast Queensland’s biggest cities — one of them nabbing a motorist every 69 seconds.

A SPEEDING motorist was caught every 69 seconds at the worst speeding hotspot in Ipswich.

A movable police speed camera operated on Kruger Parade in Redbank for about six hours last year and issued 317 speeding tickets.

Those tickets cost drivers at least $53,256 in fines. Overall Ipswich drivers paid $6.1 million in speeding fines in 2017.

Police documents obtained through a Right to Information request revealed the city’s high-speed hot spots.

A movable speed camera on the Warrego Highway at Brassall ran for about 50 hours, during which it dished out 2481 tickets: one ticket every minute and 15 seconds. That camera alone issued at least $416,808 in fines.

The police documents also revealed Ipswich’s worst hoon was nabbed at more than 80km/h over the speed limit. The driver was caught driving at 182km/h in a 100km/h zone, the highest speed recorded in the Ipswich area in 2017.

In Fernvale a speed camera operated on the Brisbane Valley Highway for four hours and nabbed 158 speeding drivers, one every minute and a half.

Further west, a speeding motorist was caught every four minutes at Toowoomba’s worst speeding hot spot.

A movable police speed camera operated on Herries St, Newtown, for about eight hours during 2017 and issued 123 speeding tickets.

Those tickets cost drivers at least $20,664 in fines. Overall, drivers in the Toowoomba region paid $1.7 million in speeding fines in 2017.

A speed camera camera on Ballin Drive, Centenary Heights, ran for 55 hours and caught 485 drivers: over one every seven minutes. That camera dished out at least $81,480 in fines.

The police documents also revealed Toowoomba’s worst hoon was nabbed at more than 40km/h over the speed limit. The driver was caught driving at 124km/h in an 80 zone, the highest speed recorded in the Toowoomba region in 2017.

A speed camera on South St, Harristown, ran for about eight hours during which it issued 107 tickets, one ticket about every five minutes.

RACQ spokeswoman Lauren Ritchie said many drivers went into “autopilot”, especially on streets they knew well.

“Often when people are on the roads they drive every day, they go into autopilot mode. They think ‘I know these roads’ and don’t switch on. That’s a form of driver distraction which is one of the fatal five,” she said.

“On suburban roads there are so many other road users. You have to deal not only with other cars, but pedestrians, cyclists, children. That just adds complexity to driving.

“When you speed you give yourself and your car less time to react to anything unexpected.”

Regional road policing boss Inspector Peter Flanders said every traffic cop will have “two or three” serious high-speed crashes they have responded to that will stick with them forever.

“To be honest, my first reaction at every major crash I attend is anger,” he said.

“It’s just such a pointless waste. I have never been to a crash that needed to happen. You just think that this person did not need to die.”