Police traffic infringement data reveals worrying road-safety trends

The number of drivers detected by police officers to have been using mobile phones while driving has declined – but the introduction of cameras has dramatically increased the number of fines issued.

Data released by the federal Department of Infrastructure shows mobile phone infringements skyrocketed in 2022, with almost 313,000 fines issued by cameras alone – compared to fewer than 50,000 tickets handed out by police nationally over the same period.

Besides minor upticks in 2012 and 2017, fines for drivers on their phones had been slowly decreasing since a peak in 2010, when more than 171,000 offences were recorded. In 2019, approximately 97,000 mobile phone fines were issued by police, but the figure had almost halved by 2022.

However, the introduction of mobile phone detection cameras in some jurisdictions since 2020 has meant the total amount of infringements issued – excluding those from police – has increased by 125 per cent.

MORE: Victoria expands driver distraction laws to keep up with technology

The number of drivers detected speeding and using drugs has also increased since 2008 when recorded data began.

The most number of speeders were ticketed in 2021, with 4.87 million fines issued to Australian drivers, falling slightly in 2022 with 4.55 million caught over the speed limit – compared to the lowest number recorded in 2010, when 2.52 million fines were issued.

While the number of detected drug drivers remained less than 10,000 annually between 2008 and 2013, data shows that number has jumped to almost 50,000 between 2018 and 2022 – an increase from 2.6 per cent of tested drivers to approximately 10 per cent.

MORE: South Australia cracks down on drug-affected drivers

One statistic that hasn't been increasing is the number of drunk drivers involved in fatal accidents – but the news is far from good.

Despite the number of road deaths involving drunk drivers falling from the most recent 2008 and 2009 highs, figures have more or less remained consistent since then, with between 129 and 152 alcohol-related fatalities recorded nationally each year over the past decade.

Of the 1123 people killed on our roads in 2021 (the most recent year of national traffic infringement data), more than 12 per cent were drivers who recorded an illegal blood alcohol concentration – however the data excluded statistics from Victoria and Western Australia, so the real figure could be even higher than this.