By Alesha Capone
More than 50,000 speeding motorists have been caught out by four traffic camera sites located on the Princes Freeway, during a 12 month period.
According to figures released by the state government, during the 2018-19 financial year the four Princes Freeway camera sites ranked among Victoria’s top 10 for snapping law-breaking drivers, issuing a total of 51,146 fines.
The four camera sites regularly feature among the state’s highest-earning traffic cameras – within the 2017-18 financial year, they issued a total of 68,261 infringements.
During the 2018-19 financial year, the cameras covering the Melbourne-bound lanes of the Princes Freeway at Avalon Bridge in Lara issued 17,075 infringements (compared to 19,996 within the previous 12 months).
The cameras covering the Melbourne-bound lanes of the freeway at the Point Wilson Bridge in Little River issued 11,684 infringements (compared to 10,522 previously).
The Geelong-bound camera site covering four lanes at the Forsyth Road Bridge in Point Cook issued 11,328 infringements (23,067 previously).
The Melbourne-bound camera site of the bridge in Hoppers Crossing, which also covers four lanes, issued 11,059 fines (14,676 previously).
The camera site which issued the most infringements in Victoria during the 2018-19 financial year was the intersection of King Street and La Trobe Street in West Melbourne, which issued 38,705 infringements.
The Department of Justice and Community Safety has called for motorists to submit feedback about their experiences with the state’s fines system to a review being conducted by the Fines Reform Advisory Board.
The review will consider how the Victorian fines system is working, since reforms introduced by the Fines Reform Act 2014 were introduced at the start of last year.
The advisory board’s report will be submitted to the Attorney-General in March. Submissions to the review will close on February 3, see www.engage.vic.gov.au fines-reform for details.
