Lead-foot drivers are lining state coffers with millions of dollars worth of speed fines after being caught out by one or more of Wyndham’s three fixed speed cameras.
Figures from the state government’s Cameras Save Lives website reveal the cameras – all on the Princes Freeway – are among the most profitable in the state, raking in more than $12.1 million in fines in the 2015 calendar year.
More than 25,000 drivers heading towards Geelong were caught by the camera under the Forsyth Road bridge, adding more than $5.3 million to state coffers last year.
In the same period, the camera on the Melbourne-bound lanes at the same Forsyth Road bridge detected more than 20,000 speeding drivers, netting $4.4 million in fines.
The other camera, on the freeway at Point Wilson Road in Little River, snapped more than 10,000 speeding Melbourne-bound drivers, who paid about $2.3 million in fines.
According to the Cameras Save Lives website, 99.9 per cent of people who drive past fixed speed cameras do so below speed limits.
SENIOR SERGEANT MADDEN
Westgate highway patrol unit commander Damien Madden said he was not surprised the freeway cameras were catching out so many drivers.
“It’s the main freeway to Geelong so you’ll get a lot of tourists,” he said.
“The other aspect is that Wyndham is growing at an exponential rate, so I would imagine there would be greater usage of the freeway.
“The more cars are on it, the greater chance that we get people not obeying the speed limit.
“Whenever we have a state operation, it’s always targeting speed, because speed is a significant factor for us, but quantifying it locally is very difficult.”
Senior Sergeant Madden, who helps determine the locations of mobile speed cameras across the Westgate division, said police considered recent crash trends to identify where cameras should be placed.
