From tomorrow, 1 July 2025 both light and heavy vehicles will receive penalties for speeding at two trial sites in regional NSW, as part of a trial that extends the use of average speed cameras to light vehicles for the first time.
The two trial sites are on the Pacific and Hume Highways, sites in the New England will continue to only generate fines for heavy vehicles for the time being.
Data from the trial, part of the Minns Labor Government’s efforts to improve road safety, shows that speeding at the trial locations decreased significantly during the two-month warning period.
Average speed cameras have been in place and enforcing average speed offences for heavy vehicles since 2011. Now they are also measuring average speeds of light vehicles on a 15km stretch of the Pacific Highway between Kew and Lake Innes (Port Macquarie) and on a 16km stretch of the Hume Highway between Coolac and Gundagai.
“Speeding contributes to around 42 per cent of road fatalities every year and so far this year, speeding has contributed to 33 per cent of all road fatalities,” Minister for Roads and Minister for Regional Transport Jenny Aitchison said.
“That’s 59 lives lost due to dangerous driving behaviour, just this year.”
“Last year we committed to investigate ways to lower road trauma at our Road Safety Forum including trialling the use of average speed cameras for light vehicles.”
“While average speed cameras are currently used for heavy vehicle enforcement in NSW, this trial is about investigating whether this technology can help reduce speeding by light vehicle drivers,” she said.
In the first week of the two-month warning period, one in every 122 drivers of light vehicles was caught speeding on the Pacific Highway cameras and issued with warning letters. One in every 122 drivers of light vehicles was also detected speeding at the Hume Highway location.
At the end of the seventh week, there was a 48 per cent improvement in behaviour on the Pacific Highway with the number of light vehicle drivers detected speeding dropping to one in every 235. An improvement of 37 per cent was seen on the Hume Highway, where the figure dropped to one in every 194.
During the warning period, light vehicle drivers were only fined if caught exceeding the speed limit by more than 30 km/h. There have been nine fines issued at the Pacific Highway location and three fines issued at the Hume Highway location during the warning period.
All fine revenue from camera-detected speeding, red-light, mobile phone use and seatbelt offences goes into the Community Road Safety Fund, which is used to fund priority road safety programs and initiatives.
The switch from warning letters to enforcement mode at the two locations is the next step in the trial which was committed to following last year’s Road Safety Forum. All other average speed cameras around the state continue to only enforce heavy vehicle speeding.
To learn more about the trial, including results, visit: https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/roadsafety/topics-tips/speeding/enforcement-cameras/average-speed-cameras.
Something going on in your part of the New England people should know about? Let us know by emailing newsdesk@netimes.com.au