Camera Upgrade - How and Why
Digital speed and red light road safety camera upgrade and additional mobile speed camera operations.
12 July 2009
On 18 November 2008, new measures were announced by the Government as part of the ongoing fight to reduce speed and cut the road toll. These measures included increasing the effectiveness of the current mobile road safety camera program through additional operating hours and better location targeting at high-risk crash sites. Further, an accelerated program of upgrading technology to digital speed and red light cameras was announced.
As part of the recent 2009/10 Budget, the Government announced a funding package to support these measures and help achieve the Arrive Alive 2008-2017 goal of a 30 percent reduction in deaths on Victorian roads.
Part of this package is work on 53 intersections to install digital speed and red light road safety cameras. Installation is likely to commence in August with the first cameras estimated to become operable issuing infringements in late 2009.
The Government also announced an increase of 3,000 hours of operation for mobile road safety cameras. As part of this increase, Victoria Police have announced that 1,000 hours will be dedicated to specialist operations to tackle known hotspots, particularly in rural and regional Victoria, or specific high risk periods.
Drivers will start to notice the installation and testing of new intersection cameras shortly and an increase in mobile cameras monitoring the speed of more drivers. For Victoria Police, this upgrade means a better statewide ability to detect offending on our roads.
Victorians can be sure that those who put others at risk by speeding or running red lights and are more likely than ever before to be caught.
How intersection camera sites were chosen
All 53 sites chosen for the installation of a digital speed and red light camera funded from the 2009/10 Budget were approved by the Camera Site Section Committee which is comprised of representation from Victoria Police and the Department of Justice. The Committee also draws on the road safety expertise and resources of the Transport Accident Commission and VicRoads.
A detailed analysis of road safety issues across the State supported the Committee’s decision.
The Committee worked with the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) to obtain detailed data on individual intersections. This assisted with determining at which intersections cameras should be installed, which direction cameras should face and whether multiple cameras are required at a particular site to address crash risks.
The statewide road safety analysis included the following:
- a detailed analysis of trauma history at particular sites (including analysis from MUARC)
- the need to achieve a reduction in speeds across the State by having a geographical spread of cameras (so cameras are not situated too close together) resulting in a greater coverage of road safety offending.
- an analysis of technical suitability of individual sites
- a consideration of intelligence received from members of the public, Victoria Police, local councils and VicRoads on local road safety hotspots – particularly in rural and regional Victoria
- consultation with VicRoads on any future road works planned for particular sites
- emerging road safety issues, for example, where population is increasing in an area and road safety cameras can operate to prevent intersections from becoming dangerous.
Speed management and Victoria Police
Victoria Police enforce speed limits in a number of ways:
- by fixed intersection and freeway road safety cameras (these locations are publicly known and published on the Department of Justice’s “Cameras Cut Crashes” website)
- by mobile cameras (these locations are not publicly known, but possible locations are published on a monthly basis on the Department of Justice’s “Cameras Cut Crashes” website)
- technology used by individual police like Moving Mode Radar which can detect speeding vehicles from a moving car.
The different methods of speed enforcement mean that particular locations can be targeted where there is a known or emerging risk of road crashes.
However, together these methods combine to mean that Victorians can be caught when speeding anywhere, anytime.
This certainty of detection is one of the strongest benefits of having a speed management program which uses cameras.
Cameras do not replace direct policing, rather they complement it. Cameras provide continuous coverage at a large number of sites across Victoria. Realistically police would never be able to provide this level of enforcement unassisted.
Also, by detecting easily measured offences, such as speed and red light running, cameras allow police more time to prosecute those offences which require more subjective assessments such as dangerous and impaired driving.