Low range speeding fines jump by 2166 per cent on Moore Park Road

Fines for drivers caught speeding by less than 10km on an arterial Sydney road skyrocketed by 2166 per cent the year after speed limits were reduced.

Low-range speeding fines on a key inner-Sydney road skyrocketed by 2166 per cent the year after speed limits were dropped, with locals saying the busy speed camera is like “a light show” at night.

Just 444 fines were doled out by the fixed speed camera on Moore Park Road in 2019-2020 for drivers exceeding the speed limit — which was 50km/h then — by 10 kilometres or less.

That ballooned to a mammoth 10,065 the following year, after the NSW government dropped the speed limit to 40km/h along the key arterial road.

The state government pulled $56,867 of revenue from fines under 10km/h in 2019-2020 on the road, but this exploded to $1,288,301 the following year when the limit was lowered.

And despite being in place for two years, the lowered speed limit and camera haven’t become any less of a trap for drivers, with 6,531 fines worth $925,298 handed out in the current financial year.

Moore Park Rd is raking in the speed fines since the speed limit was dropped to 40km/hr. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Opposition roads spokesman John Graham said the area had been described as a “speed trap”.

“You could pave Moore Park Rd with gold given the money this camera has collected,” he said. “Drivers have called it a speed trap. Cameras like this reinforce the community’s fear that this government’s focus is revenue raising.”

State ALP roads spokesman John Graham.

Carla Degenhardt, from The Friends of Moore Park Road community group, said many local residents had been fined due to the mixture of speed limits now leading into the zone.

Flashes from the camera were like “a light show” at night she said, due to the number of speeding incidents it picked up.

“The challenge is on the approach to Moore Park Road, there’s so many different speed limits from each approach,” she said. “A friend of mine said it’s like a light show when they walk home at night – (the camera) is always flashing, and I agree … many, many residents have been fined from it.”

Her neighbour Selwyn Shapiro said locals had been impacted by the speed limit drop on the key road.

“Everyone complains,” he said.

“They said they changed the speed limit for safety reasons, but there’s not that many accidents on Moore Park Rd – so I think it may have been some money raising.

“It was never dangerous, there’s been the occasional prang, but nothing serious.”

The NSW government announced in June 2020 it would drop speed limits on the road at the same time a dedicated bike lane was introduced, saying the change was “in response to crash history and to improve safety for all road users, especially cyclists”.

It came as a government report into mobile speed camera signage, released on Thursday evening, found that even though the government would re-introduce warning signs on top of mobile speed cameras, it may not be sufficient warning for drivers.

Tara McCarthy, deputy secretary safety, environment and regulation at Transport for NSW, said preliminary data showed there had been no crashes at the intersection since the speed was dropped.

“Preliminary data shows that since the speed limit was reduced to 40km/h, there has been no crashes resulting in injury reported to NSW Police at the intersection,” she said.