Speed camera revenue skyrockets by $12 million after tech update

Victorian speed cameras have netted the state government millions of dollars in extra fines thanks to a technological upgrade of the state’s speed and red light cameras.

Painting a stark difference between old wet film camera technology and recently updated digital cameras, 10 film cameras around Victoria earned $250,000 from 660 infringement notices for the financial year 2015-16.

After being changed to digital, the same cameras earned $12.65 million from 51,000 fines for the 2017-18 financial year.

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One specific camera located on the corner of North Road and Clayton Road in Melbourne's south-east issued 16,872 fines, amounting to $4.1 million, over a 12 month period.

Comparatively, it earned $9,854 from just 24 fines over the 2015-16 financial year period.

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In the Office of the Road Safety Camera Commissioner's annual report, John Voyage stated that “the improved camera systems have played a role in detecting much larger numbers of infringing drivers than their predecessors.

“The road safety consequences are that more drivers have received a reminder that speeding is unacceptable.”

Questions over the “efficiency” of wet film cameras prompted the replacement of the outdated camera technology. The move to digital also allows detection of speed-related offences, rather than solely red light infringements with the old wet film cameras.

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The second highest-performing camera is located at the Brighton Road and Glen Eira Road intersection in St Kilda, which skyrocketed from $35,626 in 2015-16 to $3.2 million in 2017-18.

This news comes at a time when Victoria’s road toll is skyrocketing, which poses obvious questions around the efficacy of speed cameras.