Point-to-point average speed cameras could soon track all cars and not just heavy vehicles, leading to speeding fines and other penalties if a new trial proves successful.
New South Wales Roads Minister John Graham announced the state will soon trial a six-month shift along two highways at a news conference on Sunday.
Point-to-point speed cameras, also known as average speed cameras, record the time it takes a vehicle to travel from one distance to another.
Mr Graham said these cameras prevent motorists from momentarily slowing down as they would with a mobile traffic camera which only records a vehicle’s speed at the moment it passes.
Testing sites It will be a 15km stretch on the Pacific Highway between Kew and Lake Innes in Port Macquarie, and another 16km stretch between Coolac and Gundagai in The Hume Highway.
If the trials prove successful, the change could be implemented statewide in an attempt to reduce its The death toll is rising.
“New South Wales is the only jurisdiction in the world that uses average speed cameras, but restricts their use to heavy vehicles only,” Graham said.
‘Against the backdrop of rising road accident figures, now is the time to test these cameras on light vehicles and understand whether we can keep more people safe on the road for longer.’
Point-to-point speed cameras will begin tracking all cars along two stretches of regional highway in New South Wales in a bid to reduce the death rate on the state’s roads.
New South Wales Roads Minister John Graham announced the six-month trial on Sunday.
Mr Graham said NSW was behind other states and countries which already used point-to-point speed cameras on all vehicles.
“All other states in mainland Australia and countries such as the UK, Norway, Italy and the Netherlands have found that average speed cameras are effective and we aim to be as rigorous as possible to ensure they will also reduce road injuries in New South Wales,” he said.
The trial will focus on Regional New South Wales because speeding “is a bigger problem” in those areas and the infrastructure is already in place.
Mr Graham said that despite only a third of the state’s population living in regional New South Wales, two-thirds of road deaths occur there.
Between 2018 and 2022 the two test areas recorded Six dead on the road and 33 seriously injured.
Speeding has been linked to 44 percent of crashes in the state. road deaths in 2023 and, again, three-quarters of these deaths occurred in regional areas.
As of September 227 There have been 225 recorded deaths on New South Wales roads compared to the same time in 2023.
During the 60 days prior to the start of a speeding trial, drivers who exceed the speed limits will receive a written warning instead of a fine.
After that time, however, Financial and licensing penalties will apply.
Trials will be conducted at two locations for six months before permanent changes are made to speed camera laws in New South Wales
The start dates for the trials have not yet been announced, but Graham said there will be clear signage in the affected areas to alert drivers to the rule change.
Legislation is needed to start the trials or make them the new law, but Mr Graham said he was confident this would happen and they would become permanent.
Sydney already has 37 point-to-point camera systems covering the city’s toll roads up to a 94km stretch of the Newell Highway in the west of the state.
For the time being, these cameras will continue to monitor only heavy vehicles.
Tasmania is the only other state in Australia not to use point-to-point cameras, but the state government has raised the possibility of introducing a trial of its own.
The New South Wales changes were suggested during a road safety forum involving 155 experts in Sydney in April.
Another recommendation given by the experts was to eliminate warning signs on the approach to fixed and mobile speed cameras, but that proposal has not been discussed since.