Speed camera at notorious black spot rakes in $1.15m in 9 months
A SPEED camera installed to help prevent accidents at a notorious northern beaches traffic black spot has raked in more than $1.15 million in fines in just nine months. That is almost 3,500 speeding drivers.
Manly
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A SPEED camera installed to help prevent accidents at a notorious northern beaches traffic black spot has raked in more than $1.15 million in fines in just nine months.
NSW Government figures show the camera, set up at the top of the steep hill on Warringah Rd at Narraweena, snapped 3,482 speeding drivers between July 2017 and March this year.
Former Roads Minister Duncan Gay pushed for the fixed speed camera to monitor trucks and cars heading east towards the intersection with Pittwater Rd at Dee Why after a series of terrible accidents.
On October 22, 2014, an out-of-control truck crashed into eight cars and injured six people, including two police officers.
In May, 2009, a truck crashed into three cars at the foot of Warringah Rd and in April 2000, 11-month-old Scott Steele died after a speeding, overloaded truck ploughed into his family’s stationary car near the bottom of the hill.
The speed limit for trucks going past the camera is 20km/h while light vehicles cannot exceed 60km/h.
Since it began full operation in February 2016 the camera, near the intersection with May Rd, it has led to more than 13,000 speeding tickets being issued and collected close to $5 million in fines.
Mr Gay said at the time it was installed: “I am determined to ensure Warringah Rd and the intersection of Pittwater Rd in Dee Why is safe for all road users.
“We received a number of requests for a speed camera to be installed from the local community and after review by our road safety experts, a camera has been deemed the best speed deterrent at this location.”
While the camera is now grabbing, on average, about 12 speeding drivers a day, in the two months after it was installed it was photographing about 35 speeders each day.
OTHER CAMERAS BRING IN THE FINES
OTHER cameras on the northern beaches are also nabbing thousands of speeding drivers.
A speed camera on the southbound lanes of Pittwater Rd, North Narrabeen, near Narrabeen Sports High School, dragged in $649,000 in fines, from about 2400 tickets, in the nine months from July last year.
At the same location, in the northbound lanes, about 1350 speeding drivers were caught during the same period.
The two cameras on Pittwater Rd, outside Narrabeen Lakes Public School, have dished out a total 2450 tickets in the nine months to March while the cameras on Harbord Rd, near The Freshwater Senior Campus of Northern Beaches Secondary College, snapped 1100 vehicles breaking the speed limit.
A spokesman for the Government’s Centre for Road Safety said fixed speed cameras were used at high-risk locations, such as tunnels, or in areas with a history of severe crashes.
The northbound lanes of the Eastern Distributor in Darlinghurst, for example, spat out $4.1 million in fines for the same nine month period.
In the Cross City Tunnel, cameras in the westbound lanes nabbed 7,500 drivers.
“Our research shows that speed cameras make drivers slow down, help reduce the road toll and lower the chances of having a crash,” the spokesman said.
“Only a minority of drivers are penalised, with about 99 per cent of motorists passing speed cameras untroubled.
“Revenue raised from speed cameras benefits all NSW road users, with funding going straight to road safety programs and initiatives.”