Top speed cameras in Victorian 40km/h rake in more than $45 million

ELEVEN speed cameras in 40km/h zones have been slammed as mere revenue raisers, netting more than $45 million in fines in a year and catching 3500 drivers every week.

JUST 11 speed cameras in 40km/h zones have reaped more than $45 million in fines in 12 months.

A Sunday Herald Sun analysis can reveal that Victoria’s top four ­revenue-­raising cameras, none of which are within school zones, are ­located in 40km/h areas.

The 11 fixed cameras in 40kmh zones across Melbourne together ping 3500 motorists every week.

The cameras, which continue to lead the state for infringements, have been slammed as income sources that do little to improve road safety.

A top roads body has called for the location of the states’s top money-making speed camera — at the intersection of Warrigal Rd and Batesford Rd next to Chadstone shopping centre — to be reviewed.

Speed camera at the corner of Warrigal Rd and Batesford Rd. Picture: Paul Loughnan

While infringements at the site dropped in 2016-17, it still tops the state with 51,519 fines bringing in $12,195,393.

RACV roads and traffic manager Dave Jones said streets with 40km/h limits should be designed to restrict speeds and should have more prominent ­signage.

“These 40km/h zones should only be used in high-use pedestrian ­activity zones, with time restrictions reflecting when pedestrian activity levels along the street are high. Not all meet this requirement,” he said.

“The RACV believes the Warrigal Rd 40km/h zone needs to be ­reviewed,” he added.

Opposition roads spokesman David Hodgett said the cameras were not effective if they were not changing driver behaviour.

“Speed cameras are meant to be a deterrent for speed, they’re not meant to be a revenue raiser,” he said.

“I’m never a fan of those cameras, mobile or fixed, being in a place where they're designed to trap the driver.

“If these zones are the highest revenue raisers in the state, what is going on?” said Mr Hodgett. “No one condones speeding, particularly in 40km/h zones around schools.”

But Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Luke Donnellan, said: “The ­results are clear — 40km/h speed zones save lives.

“Safe speeds are a vital part of saving lives — everyone can play their part by staying within the speed limit and driving to the conditions.”

Victoria Police spokeswoman Jessica Brennan said all fixed-camera ­locations in the state were determined by a committee of representatives from Victoria Police, VicRoads and the Department of Justice and Regulation.

“Automated speed enforcement in 40km/h zones provides significant deterrence against speeding in those zones and contributes to a reduction in pedestrian road trauma,” she said.

“Research shows that a pedestrian struck by a vehicle travelling at 60km/h is unlikely to survive, whereas a pedestrian struck at 40km/h has a much greater chance of survival,” Ms Brennan added.