Speed camera move that could catch more motorists

Road safety experts say if Victorian authorities made this unpopular move with speed cameras about 25 lives every year could be saved.

Accident Research Centre believes Victoria should consider a speed camera model used in Queensland.

About 25 lives could be saved on Victoria’s country roads every year if the positioning of mobile speed cameras was more random and less predictable, Monash University researchers have found.

Professor Max Cameron, from the university’s Accident Research Centre, said Victoria should consider a model used in Queensland that selected known crash sites but on a more random basis.

“Victoria is too predictable,’’ he said.

“The Queensland motorist really has no idea where a mobile speed camera is going to crop up.

“That’s entirely different to how mobile speed cameras are operated in Victoria.’’

The research paper said that the state government’s decision to increase mobile speed camera hours by 75 per cent was an opportunity to increase rural sites and randomly schedule camera visits.

“The operations at the new rural sites could be expected to save 22.5 fatal crashes and 172 serious injury crashes per year in Victoria,’’ the report found.

Prof Cameron said he had no qualms about unidentified cameras catching out speeding motorists because of the benefits.

Victoria is ‘too predictable’ when it comes to speed camera placement. Picture: Paul Loughnan

“It’s not as if the covertness of Victoria’s cameras is unknown. I think we can overplay the fairness aspect,’’ he said.

Prof Cameron said the prospect of saving lives and preventing serious crashes did not always resonate with the public.

“I’ve faced the reality that it just doesn’t seem to get through people’s heads,” he said.

“If you look around the world and even the Australian states and New Zealand, governments really do feel a need to apologise for enforcing speed limits, which always surprises me.’’

The research paper, co-authored by Stuart Newstead, has been sent to the state government which is now investigating the findings.

A government spokeswoman said more than half of mobile cameras operated in regional areas.

“The allocation of hours and sites were determined by Victoria Police and informed by the valuable research from the Monash University Accident Research Centre,’’ she said.

“The recent expansion of our mobile road safety camera hours across the state has meant an 84 per cent increase in hours in regional areas to deter people from speeding and drive down the road toll.’’

The spokeswoman said the government had implemented a 75 per cent increase in camera hours across the state, estimated to save up to 30 lives a year.

Originally published as Speed camera move that could catch more motorists