Drivers copping millions in fines from mobile speed cameras each month

Drivers are copping millions of dollars worth of fines from mobile speed cameras as a Coalition MP questions whether the move is a cash grab.

Drivers copped $5.27 million in fines issued by unmarked mobile speed cameras last month taking the total amount of money raised by the cameras this year to almost $15m, amid a warning that removing warning cameras from mobile speed cameras could be costing drivers their jobs.

It comes as state road toll data revealed 93 people died on the roads this year to April 22 – compared to 94 for the same period in 2020.

Fines have skyrocketed since Transport Minister Andrew Constance announced a plan to remove warning signs from mobile speed cameras, and increase their hours of operation.

Nationals MP Wes Fang – who publicly blasted Mr Constance over the decision last year – said the move is disproportionately impacting rural and regional drivers.

New Mobile Speed Cameras have been criticised as a “cash grab” by a government MP.

“I fear that we are having a detrimental effect on rural and regional families because people are losing their licences and then their livelihoods all to raise more money to prop up the state’s balance sheet,” Mr Fang told The Daily Telegraph.

“Every time we see a speeding fine its potentially one more worker whose lost his or her licence, one more family that will be without an income,” he said.

The latest data shows 23,149 fines were issued in March, costing motorists more than $5.27m.

Just 2,455 fines were issued in March 2020, costing drivers $478,580.

Meanwhile, an extra $50,000 has now been added to the revenue gained from mobile speed cameras in February, taking the total fines issued in one month to almost $6.25 million.

Revenue NSW data has revealed 5,649 more fines were issued in February than first stated, with drivers racking up 33,634 mobile speed camera fines in the shortest month of the year.

In the first three months of 2021, $14.88m fines were issued, compared to just $1.25m in the same period last year.

Announcing the removal of warning signs in November last year, Mr Constance said Monash University modelling showed the change could “may save between 34 to 43 lives” each year.

The government has not released the modelling, and could not provide it to The Daily Telegraph yesterday.

Road toll statistics show that 93 people have lost their lives on the roads so far this year – one less fatality than the same period in 2020.

A mobile speed camera.

Labor’s Roads spokesman John Graham has accused the government of a cash grab in removing warning signs.

“Drivers will lose their licences in record numbers (and) some will lose their jobs,” he said.

“They will be popping champagne corks down at the Treasury when they see these record figures,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance has been accused of a cash grab. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said the skyrocketing fines indicate people aren’t slowing down.

“If we’re going to save lives we need to change behaviour,” he said.

Mr Khoury has criticised the removal of warning signs from mobile speed cameras.

In a statement, Centre for Road Safety Executive Director Bernard Carlon said people will “change their speeding behaviour in response to receiving penalties”.

“All fines are reinvested through the Community Road Safety Fund, with a focus on safety upgrades such as rumble strips and safety barriers,” he said.

The government expects fines to gradually decrease as motorists get the message that they can be caught by a camera without a warning sign.