29 March, 2024
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OPPOSITION WELCOMES SPECTACULAR GOVERNMENT BACKFLIP ON MOBILE SPEED CAMERA WARNING SIGNS

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The Opposition has welcomed a spectacular policy backflip from the NSW Government, who after 2 years of community backlash and in the face of intense media and political pressure have decided to restore mobile speed camera warning signs.

The original decision to remove warning signs for mobile speed cameras was announced in Budget Week November 2020 and widely criticised as a revenue raising measure. The removal of warning signs saw an 834% increase in the number of fines for low range speeding offences in just one year.

The Joint Standing Committee on Road Safety report into mobile speed camera enforcement in NSW found “The NSW Government’s decision to install signage on mobile speed camera detection vehicles does not meet community expectations about making mobile speed cameras more overt” (pg. 15).

Shadow Minister for Roads John Graham said:

“Finally, some common sense after two years.”

“The Opposition has been calling for this change since the Government first decided to remove these signs in November 2020.”

“The community, the media, the NRMA, and a report of the Parliament all called on the Government to look at this. Even the former roads minister Duncan Gay expressed a view.”

“We supported these signs because community support for road safety programs is essential. Overt enforcement educates drivers on the road and promotes public confidence in the program.”

Timeline:

  • November 2020 – Government announces in Budget Week that mobile speed camera warning signs would be removed. Coinciding with the removal of mobile speed camera warning signs, the threshold for fineable speeding offences was dropped to include speeds at less than 10km/h over the limit.
  • May 2021 – Joint Standing Committee on Road safety self-refers inquiry into mobile speed camera enforcement programs.
  • August 2021 – Government announces it will introduce fixed general warning signs in areas and on routes where mobile speed cameras are permitted to operate (not in direct correlation with locations of operating cameras).
  • December 2021 – Government announces it will introduce warning signs fixed to the rood mobile speed camera vehicles.
  • May 2022 – mobile speed camera inquiry reports to the parliament recommending that Transport for NSW make mobile speed camera operations sufficiently overt to address key community concerns.
  • 10th October 2022 – Government announces the return of warning signs before and after mobile speed cameras.

Increase in mobile speed camera revenue:

JOHN GRAHAM MLC
NSW SHADOW MINISTER FOR ROADS

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