Canberra motorists' anger at the ACT government's revenue-raising from the lowered 40km/h limit in inner Civic has intensified, with claims that communication around the change was poor and the new limit now is being treated as a cash cow.
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Chief Minister Andrew Barr was forced to apologise to ACT motorists for initially suggesting that motorists had been individually warned before being fined, only to find that wasn't the case.
Since July 5, 23,803 speeding infringements have been issued by the recalibrated Civic speed cameras with the Liberals' Mark Parton telling the ACT Assembly on Wednesday that these cameras are making 44 times more revenue than any other speed cameras in the ACT.
Three cameras, which monitor traffic on Northbourne Avenue and Barry Drive within the new speed zones, issued about $1.6 million worth of fines per week last month, adding more than $5 million to the government coffers.
Motorists in Canberra have a right to be leery of speed camera infringements.
In a major botch-up last year, drivers have paid tens of thousands of dollars in speeding fines, had licences suspended and offences recorded against their driving record despite the ACT government admitting to a mistake in its internal processes.
Advice issued to ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury, and obtained by The Canberra Times under freedom of information, revealed that 623 drivers were caught up in the debacle in February and March last year, in which traffic camera software was affected by a major technical glitch.
While the circumstances differ between the speed camera issues, in both instances one of the key arguments raised was that it would be a drain on resources to review the infringements.
In last year's camera botch-up, Access Canberra was presented with the option of withdrawing the original, legally flawed infringements and re-issue them.
Instead, they chose not to do so in the hope that no motorist would mount a legal challenge.
Documents obtained under Freedom of Information by The Canberra Times revealed the directorate feared "a reputational and legal risk to the Road Traffic Authority" should the validity of the infringements be legally challenged.
However, one aggrieved motorist - Dennis Levy, a retired engineer from NSW - did mount a self-represented court challenge and won, with ACT Magistrate James Lawton finding said that in continuing with the defective notice, "they [the Road Traffic Authority] are effectively forcing the responsible person to face prosecution or pay an infringement notice for an offence that did not occur".
The NRMA had repeatedly called for a shutdown and audit of the complete ACT traffic cameras network, and for the results to be made public. This was ignored by the government.
Author and motoring issues researcher Noel O'Brien, whose 2020 publication Penalty Rip-Off examined how states and territories are using speed cameras as a means of raising huge amounts of revenue under the pretence of road safety, said that the government claiming it did not have the resources to issue warnings before fining motorists was "the poorest of excuses".
"I'm favour of lowered speed limits in those areas and at those specific times where there are pedestrians and other vulnerable road users about, but it has to be applied in a common-sense manner and varied to suit the time of day," he said.
"How many vulnerable road users are there in Civic at 5am?
"There also has to be a sense of fairness when introducing changes to speed restrictions. It has to be fully explained and communicated as to why this is occurring. It appears this wasn't the case in Civic."
He said there were examples all around the world of how authorities used a range of tools to make motorists more aware of changing speed environments and road conditions, such as "rumble strips" on the road, painted road surfaces and appropriate signage.
In his book, he said that the ACT hits drivers the hardest across the country for low-range speeding.
"It's an absolute gold mine for government," he said.
"Low range offences made up 87 per cent of all speeding offences [in tghe ACT] last year [2019] and over half of all penalty revenue."
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