Wyndham’s three fixed speed cameras have raked in more than $9 million in fines this financial year.
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.
Almost 17,000 lead-foot drivers heading towards Geelong were caught by the camera under the Forsyth Road bridge, adding more than $3.6 million to state coffers between July 1 last year and March 31.
In the same period, the camera on the Melbourne-bound lanes at the same Forsyth Road bridge reaped a similar haul, detecting more than 16,200 speeding drivers and netting $3.46 million in fines.
In the same nine-month period, the other freeway camera, at Point Wilson Road in Little River, snapped 8444 speeding Melbourne-bound drivers, who paid about $1.89 million in fines.
The Cameras Save Lives website says speed is a factor in 30 per cent of road casualties across the state.
Westgate road policing adviser Damien Madden said speeding was a major factor in a lot of road trauma, with Sayers Road, Leakes Road, Palmers Road and Boundary Road being problem spots for high speeds and rear-end collisions in Wyndham.
“[Speed] is probably under-represented in the statistics,” Senior Sergeant Madden said.
“We have experts in the major collision unit who can be very accurate in working out speed in relation to a collision, but we don’t have enough engineers to bring to every collision in Victoria. So you rely on local police and what evidence you can identify [to determine the cause of a collision].”
Senior Sergeant Madden, who helps determine the locations of mobile speed cameras across the Westgate division, said police considered recent road traumas and resident complaints to identify where cameras should be placed.
“We’ve got about 70 sites for the division, and they’re predominantly in Wyndham,” he said.
“We really try to mix up the times and days. There could be a speed camera anywhere.”
