By Jeremy Rochow
Published: Thursday, March 14, 2019
Looking for a reason not to drive in the city? This might be it. More than 1800 motorists were caught speeding by mobile speed cameras in the Adelaide CBD in 2018, coughing up about $500,000 in fines.
The CBD topped the list for the South Australian town or suburb where the most motorists were caught exceeding the speed limit by mobile cameras.
Old Noarlunga, Reynella and Woodcroft – which are all in the southern suburbs – rounded out the top 4, recording 1816, 1499 and 1422 speeding fines respectively.
This many motorists were caught speeding in the CBD by mobile cameras last year.
While the CBD topped the list for the suburb where the most speeding fines were recorded in 2018, it also saw more visits from mobile speed cameras than many other regions across the state.
In fact, each time a mobile camera was set up in the CBD, 49 motorists on average were caught speeding. In contrast, Mount Gambier – which topped the list for speeding fines per visit – recorded 114 expiation notices on average every time a speed camera was operated in the region.
Hawthorn (91), Woodcroft (89) and Crafers (82) also made the top 4 for speeding offences per mobile camera visit.
More motorists keeping to the speed limit
Overall, speed camera fines across South Australia have fallen by almost 50,000 – or 25% – in the past 3 years.
RAA Senior Manager Road Safety Charles Mountain welcomed the fall in the number of speeding fines recorded in SA.
“It’s good to see more motorists sticking to the speed limit and making the streets safer for all road users,” Mr Mountain said.
Fines can be expensive so paying attention to the speed limit is not only good for your safety but also your hip pocket.”
Police figures show fewer than 150,000 speeding motorists were caught on fixed and mobile cameras and fined $45.9 million last year, compared to 200,000 in 2016.
Red light fines, however, fell by just 2% last year – down from 33,402 in 2016 to 32,810 last year.
Top 10 suburbs for speeding fines
| Suburb | Offences | Offences per visit | Fines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide | 1849 | 49 | $511,523 |
| Old Noarlunga | 1816 | 52 | $567,132 |
| Reynella | 1499 | 39 | $443,830 |
| Woodcroft | 1422 | 89 | $409,983 |
| Pooraka | 1326 | 24 | $399,532 |
| West Beach | 1262 | 28 | $360,748 |
| Meadows | 1181 | 59 | $412,177 |
| Nuriootpa | 1180 | 22 | $350,162 |
| Para Hills West | 1165 | 42 | $350,162 |
| Parafield Gardens | 1150 | 31 | $350,560 |
Mr Mountain warned that, just like speeding, running a red light could have catastrophic consequences.
“The $15 million generated by red-light camera fines last year should be treated the same way as speeding fine revenue and used to improve road infrastructure to cut crashes and save lives,” Mr Mountain said.
“RAA is urging the state government to spend the red-light fine money on black spot projects because these reduce fata and injury crashes by 30% on average.”