New high-tech cameras on Perth roads ‘not revenue-raisers’, safety tsar says

The state’s top road safety bureaucrat has rejected suggestions that new high-tech cameras that can catch wrongdoers on West Australian roads en masse are revenue-raisers.

Road Safety Commissioner Adrian Warner joined Road Safety Minister David Michael on Monday to announce the rollout of the six mobile cameras from Australia Day.

Road Safety Commissioner Adrian Warner and Road Safety Minister David Michael.

The smart cameras, leased for five years at a cost of $22 million, can easily spot motorists using their phones or driving without a seatbelt and will be deployed to deter the behaviours that make up a large reason for so many of the fatalities on WA roads.

A camera pointed at just one lane on the Kwinana Freeway near Salter Point last month spotted more than 6300 people using their mobiles while driving, and 5100 not wearing their seatbelts.

Had that camera been used to issue fines, it could have netted the Road Trauma Trust account anywhere from $5 million to $10 million, depending on the severity of the offences.

The rollout of the new cameras will coincide with a three-month grace period where motorists breaking the law will be issues with a caution instead of a fine.

Warner said this demonstrated the cameras were not about revenue-raising, but changing behaviours.

“It’s anything but revenue raising, that’s why we’re doing caution notices,” he said.

“This is about drivers changing their behaviour. We have a culture problem. We need to address it, and these cameras are the first step in doing that.”

Warner said 99 per cent of people wore seatbelts, but 20 per cent of people who died in crashes weren’t wearing seatbelts.

“That should tell you something,” he said.

The announcement comes as WA records its worst road toll in almost 10 years, with 182 deaths.

Michael said in this context now was the time for the technology to become a vital and permanent tool to be used across the state.

“The message is clear and simple: these cameras are coming, slow down, buckle up and put
your phone away,” he said.

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