The last of 35 new road safety cameras has been switched on in Melbourne, aiming to reduce road trauma as part of a $49.4 million investment by the Victorian Government.
Research by the Monash University Accident Research Centre shows a 47 per cent reduction in crashes where speed and red-light road safety cameras are installed.
Speed contributes to approximately one third of all road trauma in Victoria, or around 100 deaths and 2000 serious injuries every year.
Even small increases in vehicle speed can significantly raise the risk of a driver having a crash. Exceeding the speed limit by just three kilometres an hour can increase a driver’s risk of being involved in a crash by 25 per cent, and drivers travelling at 65 kilometres per hour in a 60 kilometres per hour zone double their risk.
Every dollar received from road safety camera enforcement goes to the Better Roads Victoria Trust, where it is spent on road restoration, surface replacement, bridge strengthening and other improvements.
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In the 2023-24 financial year, fines issued from road safety cameras amounted to $473 million. Road trauma costs Victoria between $4 and $6 billion per year, this amount includes serious injuries and fatalities.
The Victorian Government’s second Road Safety Action Plan will invest more than $1.1 billion over the next four years to deliver life-saving road safety infrastructure and strengthen enforcement efforts to reduce road trauma. The first Road Safety Action Plan for Victoria, released in 2021, aimed to halve road deaths and significantly reduce serious injuries by 2030, and set the state on a path towards zero road deaths by 2050.
Minister for Police Anthony Carbines said these methods aim to prevent the current trends around road accidents and trauma.
“Road safety cameras have proven to be one of the most effective ways to get motorists to slow down and ultimately reduce serious injuries and save lives,” Carbines said.
“It only takes one moment of distraction to turn into tragedy – we need people to heed the advice, or they’ll risk their life.”
