Presented by Robert Clark MP		www.robertclark.net

Whitehorse motorists hit with 22 per cent increase in speeding fines

News Release - Monday, 29 August 2005

Despite the question marks over the accuracy and reliability of speed cameras, the State government is continuing to rake in the dollars with a further 22 per cent rise in the number of speed camera fines issued in the Whitehorse, Monash and Boroondara areas in the June quarter 2005 compared with the June quarter 2004.

This 22 per cent increase is far higher than the statewide increase in fines of 12 per cent over the same period.

Freedom of Information documents released to the Liberal Party show that in our local police region, 16,469 fines were issued in the June quarter 2005, compared with 13,481 in the June quarter 2004. At an average fine of $152, Bracks Government revenue from local speed cameras was $2.5 million, up from $2.05 million last year.

Across Victoria in the June quarter 2005, 156,337 statewide speed camera fines were issued, up from 139,480 for the June quarter 2004. The government's statewide speed camera revenue for the quarter amounted to $23.8 million.

Month by month in the Whitehorse, Monash and Boroondara municipalities, 6,658 fines were issued in April (up from 5,143 in April 2004), 5, 293 in May (4,191 in May 2004) and 4,518 in June (4,147 in June 2004).

The question that must be asked in how many Whitehorse residents have been wrongfully fined like Craigieburn motorist Mr Frank Torzillo, who was fined at Somerton on the Hume Highway for allegedly travelling at 88kmh in what the speed camera operator recorded as an 80kmh speed zone, when it was actually a 90kmh speed zone?

Last week Police and Emergency Services Minister Tim Holding admitted that there had been a similar incident at Mooroolbark in March 2004.

If speed camera operators can make an error on their daily running sheet on the Hume Highway or at Mooroolbark, they do so just as easily in the eastern suburbs, particularly with Whitehorse's confusing mix of multiple speed zones that change in quick succession.

Most speed camera debacles have only been brought to public notice because individual motorists challenged their fines or received ‘impossible’ speed readings in the mail. These errors have not been detected by the government, by Victoria Police’s Traffic Camera Office or by contractor Tenix.

I support the sensible use of speed cameras to make our roads safer. However, the message to drive safely or pay the cost is undermined when the speed camera system lacks accountability and proper checking to ensure that cameras operate accurately and are being deployed for genuine safety reasons rather than for revenue raising.

There need to be regular audits of mobile speed camera operators’ daily running sheets against VicRoads’ speed zones to ensure that motorists have not been unjustly fined, as well as regular independent audits of the accuracy of cameras' calibration and setup.