Skip to main content

Speed cameras - road safety benefits

The 2014 speed camera review by the New South Wales Centre for Road Safety shows that speed cameras continue to deliver positive road safety benefits. A total of 95 fixed speed camera locations were reviewed, with 93 locations shown to be effective from the initial analysis. This positive result shows the review, now in its third year, has systematically identified ineffective fixed speed cameras for decommissioning. Overall at these fixed speed camera locations, there was a 42 per cent reduction in the
October 17, 2014 Read time: 3 mins
The 2014 speed camera review by the New South Wales Centre for Road Safety shows that speed cameras continue to deliver positive road safety benefits.

A total of 95 fixed speed camera locations were reviewed, with 93 locations shown to be effective from the initial analysis. This positive result shows the review, now in its third year, has systematically identified ineffective fixed speed cameras for decommissioning. Overall at these fixed speed camera locations, there was a 42 per cent reduction in the number of crashes; 90 per cent reduction in deaths; and 40 per cent reduction in injuries. This reduction in casualties represents a saving of US$391.5 million to the community.

Speed cameras were not as effective at two locations and field inspections will be carried out prior to a decision on camera effectiveness and alternative options to improve safety.

Overall, the trend in road fatalities and annual speed surveys demonstrates that the mobile speed camera program is delivering positive road safety benefits, compared with results before the reintroduction of the mobile speed camera program in 2010. The ongoing impact of the mobile speed camera program is reflected in NSW’s provisional 2013 road toll of 339 fatalities. This result is the lowest annual figure since 1924, when there were 309 fatalities.

Results from the 2013 speed surveys show speeding continues to remain below the level of 2009, before the reintroduction of the mobile speed camera program in 2010. The percentage of light vehicles exceeding the speed limit by up to 10 km/h in 2013 was lower when comparing 2013 results to those from 2009 to 2011. The comparisons of the 2013 results with those from 2012 were more mixed, with further reductions in most speed zones, but slight increases in some zones.

Significant gains were achieved in reducing heavy vehicles exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 km/h, with the lowest percentages achieved over the entire five-year review period across most zones.

More than 99 per cent of vehicles passing mobile speed cameras were not infringed for speeding.  This high rate of compliance has remained consistent since 2010 when the program was reintroduced.

The red-light speed camera program shows encouraging results in changing driver behaviour. Overall, at the 125 intersections with red-light speed cameras there was a: 24 per cent reduction in crashes; 49 per cent reduction in pedestrian casualties; and 36 per cent reduction in all casualties.

This reduction in casualties represents a saving of US$61.7 million to the community.

There were no fatalities at signalised intersections with red-light speed camera enforcement in 2013.

Early analysis of point-to-point enforcement lengths shows that there was a low number of heavy vehicle crashes since camera operations began. There has also been a high level of compliance with speed limits on the point-to-point lengths, with low numbers of heavy vehicles detected speeding by point-to-point enforcement. It is too early to evaluate the program as only 21 out of 25 lengths were rolled out by the end of 2013.

Related Content

  • As US edges to four million road deaths, 'something must change' says GHSA
    February 21, 2024
    'Grim and tragic milestone' requires renewed sense of urgency for road safety action
  • Mounting benefits of dynamic tolling project
    January 30, 2012
    Wisconsin's four-year HOT lanes pilot project, launched in May 2008, cost US$18.8 million to construct. Halfway into the project, which uses variably priced, or dynamic, tolling to improve highway efficiency, the benefits are mounting. The problem was obvious, and frustrating, to anyone who ever sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic on State Route 167 and watched a lone car whiz by every 20 seconds or so in the carpool lane. But for planners at the Washington State Department of Transportation, the conundrum was
  • Bringing enforcement standards into line
    March 1, 2013
    Difficulties with the apparent accuracy of enforcement systems have been making the headlines in the United States over recent months. Jon Masters investigates the causes and possible cures. Online newspaper reports in the United States over recent months have painted a picture of the authorities struggling to keep on top of their speed and red light enforcement pro­grammes. Among a host of stories put out by the Washington Post and others on the subject of speed cameras during January, there were reports
  • Traffex snapshot reveals enforcement advances
    July 24, 2017
    An indication of just how far beyond spot speed and red light the enforcement sector has progressed was evident in the range of new and improved equipment on display at the recent Traffex event in Birmingham. One of the key trends, particularly in the UK but also evident elsewhere, is the increase in average speed enforcement, according to RedSpeed’s managing director Robert Ryan, who predicts a big increase in installations this year. “The price point has reached a level authorities can afford,” he says, a