CONFIDENCE remains strong in Victoria's fixed speed cameras

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/speed-camera-confidence-stays-high-20110727-1i0cq.html
Speed camera confidence stays high
Reid Sexton
July 28, 2011
Comments 40

Victoria's Auditor-General is currently auditing the state's speed cameras.
CONFIDENCE remains strong in Victoria's fixed speed cameras despite the New South Wales government yesterday shutting down more than a quarter of the devices across that state.

NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay ordered the cameras switched off after the NSW Auditor-General found 38 of the state's 141 cameras had no real safety benefit.

While the Auditor-General found no evidence that revenue was a factor in their placement, Mr Gay said the cameras were primarily revenue raisers and he pledged to dismantle them within weeks.

Advertisement: Story continues below
Victoria's Auditor-General is currently auditing the state's speed cameras at the request from Police Minister Peter Ryan.

His report is expected to examine the location of Victoria's cameras and is set to be tabled late next month.

The state government also plans to appoint a speed camera commissioner to oversee the system and its integrity.

Controversy has dogged the speed cameras with many motorists contesting fines from EastLink cameras.

But the RACV and Monash University Accident Research Centre back the present system, which has 171 fixed cameras.

RACV public policy manager Brian Negus said police reassurances had convinced him that EastLink's cameras were accurate.

Cameras in Victoria were generally positioned appropriately, he said, but a ''very small number'' in locations that he did not specify had been positioned in the wrong place and subsequently removed.

''We see the speed cameras in Victoria being a valid part of road safety tools,'' he said. ''In terms of NSW, Victoria has already taken action to have that review and that is a positive measure.''

Stuart Newstead, of Monash University Accident Research Centre, said the centre was about to unveil a report based on findings from 87 Victorian intersections that have digital red light speed cameras.

While it does not detail the effectiveness of cameras at individual sites, it shows they on average reduced crashes by 47 per cent within their immediate vicinity and by 26 per cent across the whole intersection.

''I think we should always evaluate the performance of all our road safety counter measures,'' Mr Newstead said.

''And if it seems like we need to change how we're operating we change. [But the centre's] evaluation … certainly suggests the fixed digital speed red light cameras that we have are doing a very good job.''

TAC chief Janet Dore said the NSW report inevitably would undermine public faith in the cameras. But she said since they were introduced in the late 1980s the road toll had more than halved.

The Department of Justice said the function of every Victorian camera was road safety.



Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/speed-camera-confidence-stays-high-20110727-1i0cq.html#ixzz1U0qW4BHQ