Most Profitable Speed ​​Cameras in Australia

Speed ​​cameras made $1 billion in three years in Victoria alone. (Image credit: James Marsden)

The law is known to be an asshole, but when it comes to speed cameras, it's a differently shaped ass - though still smelly - depending on which state you live in.

In New South Wales, for example, authorities believe that speed cameras should be used to slow people down in dangerous places. Roads Minister Melinda Pavey says people don't like the "sneaky" approach of hiding cameras and they are more effective if they are located and clearly marked in "black dots" that force people to slow down.

In the past, the NSW governments have only suggested installing cameras in known high-risk areas, but then they went ahead and installed them in the Lane Cove Tunnel before it even opened, somewhat against their own logic.

The incredible thing about these tunnel chambers, however, is that despite being clearly labeled and very easy to avoid, the Lane Cove and Cross City Tunnel devices are among the state's top ten sources of income.

People in New South Wales are clearly not enjoying the benefits that are being offered to them. An analysis of New South Wales government data by Guardian Australia found that the state received $223 million in speeding tickets, with most of it coming from fixed cameras rather than highway patrol orders. 

The numbers were broken down by postcodes, which showed that the Sydney CBD, Silverwater in western Sidin, Double Bay in the east, and Ultimo and Auburn in the west were among the top five suburbs with the most speed camera fines.

The top ten highest-grossing cameras in New South Wales were:

• East Distributor, Northbound, Darlinghurst
• Cross City Tunnel Westbound East Sydney
• Botany Road Southbound Rosebury 
• Cleveland Street Eastbound Moore Park
• Lane Cove Tunnel Westbound Lane Cove
• Lane Cove Tunnel, eastbound
• Inner Way, Northbound, Ewingsdale
• M5 motorway westbound Arncliffe
• Woodville Road Southbound Chester Hill
• William Street, Westbound, Darlinghurst.

More recent data released in 2017 showed that the top three on this list were once again the highest paid, earning $193.92 million between them.

The top ten highest-grossing cameras in New South Wales were:

• East Distributor, Northbound, Darlinghurst
• Cross City Tunnel Westbound East Sydney
• Botany Road Southbound Rosebury 
• Cleveland Street Eastbound Moore Park
• Lane Cove Tunnel Westbound Lane Cove
• Lane Cove Tunnel, eastbound
• Inner Way, Northbound, Ewingsdale
• M5 motorway westbound Arncliffe
• Woodville Road Southbound Chester Hill
• William Street, Westbound, Darlinghurst.

More recent data released in 2017 showed that the top three on this list were once again the highest paid, earning $193.92 million between them.

The only statistic that defines the approach to law enforcement in Victoria that should make it a difficult and depressing place to live is that one motorist is now fined for speeding in the police state every 20 seconds.

Residents of the state of Victoria, commonly known as the Police State, are being treated differently, saying they don't understand the New South Wales approach at all, according to Traffic Camera Commissioner John Voyage.

 “I don't understand the psychology, because the limit is the law, and trying to go around the speed cameras is just breaking the law,” says Mr. Voyage.

“If people don't know where the cameras are, they have to assume they can be anywhere, and then they have to stick to the limit at all times.

“It's best if people stick to the legal speed, but for some reason someone always calls it an income boost. You just can't please people."

Mr. Voyage, as his name suggests, is a big proponent of "road safety cameras", doesn't understand why people think they're meant to increase income, and says they've proven to work.

“If you look at the most profitable cam websites and follow the violation rate graph, they all have the same shape – it starts high and ends, some faster than others because people learn more slowly there,” he says.

Despite this claim, Mr Voyage says that the largest in the state of Victoria, having issued 12,862 fines in just three months from July to September 2016, has been a "record holder" for many years.

“It's in Chadstone, on Warrigal Road, next to the railway line and TAFE, it's a good road, people are moving from zone 70 to zone 40 and trying their best to comply,” he says, clattering his tongue.

So, is there a camera that people don't know about that is located at the point where the limit drops from 70 to 40 and that generates more fines and revenue than a system with 26 cameras in five lots along the Hume Highway? Doesn't sound like a trap to increase income.

In 2017, Chadstone was once again the top-grossing location for speed cameras, followed by the Fitzroy Street and Lakeside Drive junctions in St Kilda, and Flinders Street and William Street in Melbourne's CBD. These three cameras alone made $363.15 million in one year, somewhat eclipsing New South Wales' efforts.

Other notable big-time jobs in Victoria include six cameras on the Western Circular Road, cameras on the Eastlink on the Wellington Road Bridge, and Princess Highway on the Forsyth Road Bridge.

Adelaide's Southeast Highway is the largest source of revenue in the entire state, having received more than twice as much money as the state government expected/hoped for in their first three years of operation.

After two cameras were turned on in 2013, two cameras were fined $18 million, and so far, requests to improve speed limit signs to help people avoid cameras have fallen on deaf ears.

However, the main focus of the South Australian approach is to use mobile speed cameras so people never know when they might be booked.

Revenue from these cameras has grown by nearly 50% to $26.2 million over the past four years, with almost 1300 locations active between 2014 and 15.

Nearly all of the state's most profitable mobile camera locations (18 of the top 20) in 2015 were in residential areas with speed limits of 50 km/h or less.

The top-grossing mobile camera locations in South Australia (data from 2015) were:

•         Waverley Ridge Road, Crafers West ($659,153 for one year)
•         Main South Road, Old Noarlunga
•         Grange Road, Grange
•         Dashwood Road, Beaumont
•         Frost Road, Brahma Lodge
•         Battunga Road, Meadows
•         Angus Road, Hawthorn
•         South Terrace, Puraka
•         Chief Street, Brompton
•         Tolmer Road, Elizabeth Park.

However, the most recent data for 2017 suggests a change in profits, with $174 million coming from two on the Southeast Freeway, one at Leawood Gardens and another at Crafers, with a camera on Montagu Road at Ingle Farm coming in third. .

Adelaide's Southeast Highway is the largest source of revenue in the entire state, having received more than twice as much money as the state government expected/hoped for in their first three years of operation.

After two cameras were turned on in 2013, two cameras were fined $18 million, and so far, requests to improve speed limit signs to help people avoid cameras have fallen on deaf ears.

However, the main focus of the South Australian approach is to use mobile speed cameras so people never know when they might be booked.

Revenue from these cameras has grown by nearly 50% to $26.2 million over the past four years, with almost 1300 locations active between 2014 and 15.

Nearly all of the state's most profitable mobile camera locations (18 of the top 20) in 2015 were in residential areas with speed limits of 50 km/h or less.

The top-grossing mobile camera locations in South Australia (data from 2015) were:

•         Waverley Ridge Road, Crafers West ($659,153 for one year)
•         Main South Road, Old Noarlunga
•         Grange Road, Grange
•         Dashwood Road, Beaumont
•         Frost Road, Brahma Lodge
•         Battunga Road, Meadows
•         Angus Road, Hawthorn
•         South Terrace, Puraka
•         Chief Street, Brompton
•         Tolmer Road, Elizabeth Park.

However, the most recent data for 2017 suggests a change in profits, with $174 million coming from two on the Southeast Freeway, one at Leawood Gardens and another at Crafers, with a camera on Montagu Road at Ingle Farm coming in third. .

As for stationary cameras, Queenslanders seem to enjoy passing them in tunnels almost as much as pedestrians in New South Wales.

In 2015, Brisbane's Legacy Way Tunnel installed the state's most profitable fixed camera, filming nearly 100 people a day in its first year of operation.

Here are the top 10 earners in Queensland:

•         Legacy Way Tunnel, Brisbane (36,092 fines 2014 at 15-XNUMX)
•         Gold-Kost Highway, Brodbič
•         Pacific Highway, Loganholme
•         Main Street, Kangaroo Point
•         Clem7 Tunnel, Brisbane 
•         Airport Link Tunnel, Brisbane
•         Gold Coast Highway, Southport
•         Nathan Street, Aitkenvale
•         Pacific Highway, Gaven
•         Bruce Highway, Berpengari

These top three cameras still topped the list in 2017 and in the same order, earning $226 million between the two.

Queensland also loves their mobile cameras and has 3700 approved locations across the state where they can use them.

The worst road in the state is Brisbane's Old Cleveland Road, which has 19 approved cameras on a 22-kilometer stretch.

The state's infamous Bruce Highway has at least 430 approved mobile speed cameras, or one every four kilometers.

Although not many, in 5600 Tasmanians received more than 2015 tickets from fixed speed cameras in the state.

The list of the most profitable cameras in the state in 2015, published by The Advocate and obtained from the Tasmanian police, lists only nine, but helpfully indicates that the 10th camera was due to be installed soon on the Midland Highway, north from Campbelltown. .

Here are the nine most profitable speed cameras in Tasmania in 2015:

•         Brooker Highway, Rosetta (fines 1970)
•         Tasman Bridge, west side
•         Tasman Bridge, east side
•         South Exit, Tolmans Hill
•         Brooke Highway, Comellian Bay
•         Bass Highway, East Devonport
•         Tasmanian Highway, Cambridge Park
•         South Exit, Kings Meadows
•         Bass Highway, Wyvenho.

In 2017, the top three cameras in Tasmania grossed just over $1 million, and while Brooker Highway and Tasman Bridge, the west side, retained the top two spots, the camera on Bass Highway in East Devonport managed to move up to third place.

Although not many, in 5600 Tasmanians received more than 2015 tickets from fixed speed cameras in the state.

The list of the most profitable cameras in the state in 2015, published by The Advocate and obtained from the Tasmanian police, lists only nine, but helpfully indicates that the 10th camera was due to be installed soon on the Midland Highway, north from Campbelltown. .

Here are the nine most profitable speed cameras in Tasmania in 2015:

•         Brooker Highway, Rosetta (fines 1970)
•         Tasman Bridge, west side
•         Tasman Bridge, east side
•         South Exit, Tolmans Hill
•         Brooke Highway, Comellian Bay
•         Bass Highway, East Devonport
•         Tasmanian Highway, Cambridge Park
•         South Exit, Kings Meadows
•         Bass Highway, Wyvenho.

In 2017, the top three cameras in Tasmania grossed just over $1 million, and while Brooker Highway and Tasman Bridge, the west side, retained the top two spots, the camera on Bass Highway in East Devonport managed to move up to third place.

The roads in Washington DC are covered with both fixed and mobile speed cameras, but ask any local and they'll tell you that mobile cameras that look like little robotic tripods are on the rise.

Officially, Western Australia police are pleased that drivers are aware of "most" speed camera locations "to encourage them to slow down and try to prevent serious or fatal collisions". They are all allegedly in "dangerous" locations "to prevent speed violations and red lights".

Mobile camera locations are also published weekly on the Internet (40 to 50 per day), in newspapers, and broadcast on radio stations. So if you spend half an hour every day planning your itinerary before leaving the house, you'll be fine.

The state government announced last July that it would install 25 more fixed speed cameras at "not yet identified locations" in Perth, adding to the five currently installed on the Mitchell and Kwinana freeways. And that point-to-point cameras, which measure your speed over a certain distance and then issue you a ticket if your average is too high, will also reportedly be in operation in the city throughout the year.

The simple fact is that it's hard to know which top 10 income-generating cam spots are in Western Australia because they're always on the move (and often hiding behind bushes or trees), but here's a list of fixed cams. in Perth. Too far.

Fixed cameras in Perth:

•         Row Highway, Beckenham
•         Great Eastern Highway, Burlong
•         Graham Farmer Highway, Berswood
•         Row Highway, Willetton
•         Kwinana Freeway, Como
•         Mitchell Freeway, Innaloo
•         Kwinana Freeway, Murdoch
•         Mitchell Freeway, Sterling.

In 2017, this trio was the highest paid, earning $97 million for the two.