Geelong traffic cameras are racking up $30k a day in fines for speeding, running red lights

The Geelong Road Camera Network has four of Victoria’s five most profitable cameras and Geelong motorists were slapped with $2.8m in fines during the final three months of 2021. SEE THE LOCATIONS

Four of the five most profitable cameras for the State Government are part of the Geelong Road Camera System.

Geelong motorists were slapped with $2.8m in fines from mobile and fixed road cameras during the final three months of 2021, an increase of 55 per cent on the previous quarter.

The jump in fines coincided with the September release of Geelong and the Surf Coast from Covid-19 lockdown, and the Melbourne release in late October.

The latest figures from the Department of Justice and Community Safety show Geelong’s 14 mobile and fixed road cameras hit motorists with an average of 107 fines – worth more than $30,000 – every single day from October 1 to December 31.

The network of 14 mobile and fixed cameras across the region collected $2.8m in fines from almost 10,000 motorists during the period, 55 per cent more than the $1.8m in fines issued in the previous quarter.

The cameras, which fined motorists for speeding, red-light and unregistered vehicle offences, issued an average fine of $282.55.

The four of the five most profitable cameras for the government include the Melbourne-bound cameras on the Avalon Rd Bridge and Point Wilson Rd Bridge, which raked in 1899 fines worth $499,468 and 1656 fines worth $448,436 respectively.

Geelong's highest-earning speed camera — Princes Highway at Sparks Rd, Norlane.

The Geelong-bound cameras on the two bridges issued 1364 fines worth $359,329 (Avalon Rd Bridge) and 1011 fines worth $270,713 (Point Wilson Rd Bridge).

A mobile camera on Warralilly Blvd in Armstrong Creek was the fifth-highest earning mobile camera in Victoria during the three month period, issuing 1600 fines worth an estimated $421,702 – based on the average mobile camera fine of $263.56.

Geelong’s speed and red-light intersection camera system tallied 2391 fines worth $800,676 from nine locations.

The busiest of the nine locations included the intersections of Princes Hwy and Station St in Corio (810 fines), Latrobe Tce and Fyans St in South Geelong (357), Princes Hwy and Sparks Rd in Norlane (338), Thompson Rd and Separation St in Bell Park (283) and Settlement Rd and Torquay Rd in Belmont (218).

The fresh fines data comes following a spate of attacks on mobile speed cameras in the region in recent months.

Police in May called for public assistance in tracking down a masked man who attacked a speed camera vehicle parked Murradoc Rd at St Leonards about 3.50pm April 25.

Police said the man approached the vehicle, which had a camera operator inside it, and placed wood with nails driven through it under the tyres, before smashing the side mirrors and aerial with a metal pole when confronted by the operator.

A separate June incident in Point Lonsdale saw another mobile speed camera vehicle attacked by a person while an operator was inside, with the attacker smashing the car windows with a metal pole and slashing all four tyres before escaping.

Originally published as Geelong traffic cameras are racking up $30k a day in fines for speeding, running red lights