The NSW Auditor-General has a problem with mobile speed cameras – there aren’t enough of them and they’re too easy to spot.
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Auditor-general Margaret Crawford carried out a review of the state government’s mobile speed camera (MSC) program, which was tabled in parliament this week.
The review found the program had been less successful than it could have been at stopping speeding drivers.
“There is limited evidence that the current MSC program in NSW has led to a behavioural change in drivers by creating a general network deterrence,” the review stated.
However, rather than scrap the program the review recommended increasing the number of MSC locations and giving motorists less notice of their presence.
The cameras are required to have two warning signs before the vehicle and one afterwards, which the report said “reduces the perceived risk of detection, thereby limiting the ability of MSCs to moderate driver behaviour at other locations.”.
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The review recommended looking for more MSC sites, which would be made easier if the requirement of signage was reduced or removed.
When the program started in 2012, the then Roads Minister Duncan Gay said it would be operating at around 2500 locations.
The review found there were only 1024 locations approved for use and, of those, only 650 were used in the last six months to December 2017.
“This means there is a current shortfall of over 1500 locations in respect of the minister’s commitment,” the review found.
“Currently, there are 2585 sites available for enforcement within the limited number of locations.”
The location schedule for the cameras needed to be more random.
The report found certain spots were heavily visited; eight locations were visited more than 1000 times in the last five years and one spot was visited 1768 times.
It pointed to a review of the Queensland MSC program, which found higher levels of randomness in choosing camera sites “were associated with greater crash reductions”.