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Speed cameras placed in non-black spot areas to raise revenue

The speed camera is a very successful marketing tool which 'sells' safer roads. Literally. If there's been a number of accidents on a particular stretch of road, understandably, people complain. The government then reacts by installing a camera in the black spot to slow down drivers. Everybody's happy.


Not quite. According to a recent News Limited report, the government installs speed cameras in areas that are not known black spots as well. And reaps huge benefits from doing so.

Out of the 172 permanent speed cameras put up around NSW, some of the higher-paying cameras around Sydney are placed in areas that have had no fatal accidents recorded there in the three years prior to the camera being installed.

In particular, the speed camera on the Great Western Highway in Parramatta collected $1.9 million in fines last financial year, even though zero fatalities have been recorded there in the three years prior to the camera being put up.

It's the same story with the camera at King Georges Rd, Beverly Hills (which collected $1.1 million), the one on the Pacific Highway, Woodburn (which collected $1.1 million), plus the cameras on Parramatta Rd, Auburn; Hume Highway, Bankstown; Botany Rd, Rosebery; Spit Rd, Mosman and the  Princes Highway, Kogarah. All of which are not 'known black spots' for accidents at all.

Interestingly, the reports outlined that a particular section of the M4 in Silverwater, west Sydney, has been home to 135 accidents between 2006 and 2007. Yet, there's no 'safety' camera there. If the government is right in saying speed cameras reduce accidents on the road, why hasn't a camera been put up there? Is it because it's a dense-traffic area where speed is not the issue and a camera would not make any money for them?

Shadow Roads Minister, Andrew Stoner, told News Limited:

"This confirms what the motorists across NSW have suspected - the Keneally Labor Government considers fixed speed cameras a revenue-raising machine."

It's easy enough to simply say, 'well don't speed and you won't get fined'. But that's not the point. The point is the government is lying its way out of providing safer roads for us all and cashing in in the process.

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