One speed camera on the Monaro Highway at Hume generated $1.2 million in revenue alone for the ACT government last year, with five of the top-earning fixed cameras producing a minimum over $5.5 million for the government coffers.
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More than 15,000 drivers were detected by the five top-earning ACT fixed cameras in 2020, according to the website carexpert.com.au.
The northbound Monaro Highway camera between Lanyon Drive and Sheppard Street was the busiest with 3433 infringements automatically issued, closely followed by the southbound Barton Highway camera between the Gungahlin Drive overpass and Ellenborough Street, with 3294 infringements.
The Barton Highway camera between Curran Drive and Gold Creek Road netted, on average, the largest number of drivers travelling at higher speeds. It recorded 3047 speeding infringements and netted $1.16 million in revenue.
Data released last year in reply to questions notice in the ACT Assembly revealed that over the 11 months to the end of May last year, the government collected $11.54 million from its fixed and red-light cameras, and $8.8 million from its mobile cameras.
Fines from traffic infringements, in general, were budgeted to produce $32.4 million in revenue in 2019-20 for the ACT government, according to estimates. Forward estimates expected this to increase by $430,000 in 2020-21, and $897,000 the year after. However, fixed-traffic cameras are not fault-free, nor without controversy.
In February and March last year, 593 speeding fines from ACT traffic cameras were issued with incorrect dates as a result of a "systems error". The error was a result of the issuing computer not being programmed correctly to account for the 2020 leap year.
The fault occurred over 14 days from February 29 to March 13 but Access Canberra refused to reassess or reissue the infringements, describing them as "valid for the purposes of the road transport legislation".
An independent evaluation of the ACT's road safety traffic camera program in 2019, reported "an average reduction in all crashes of 25 per cent associated with installation and operation of the fixed speed cameras."
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The territory's 13 fixed-speed cameras and the single average speed camera on Hindmarsh Avenue "translates to a saving of $1.3 million annually in crash costs to the ACT community", the report also found.
In an accompanying survey, the majority of Canberra residents reported typically driving within the speed limit, or exceeding the limit very occasionally. Of those surveyed, 14 per cent admitted to having been booked within the last two years.
