The top Hunter locations for speeding detections by mobile cameras have been revealed with more than $360,000 in revenue collected from 10 streets in just six months.
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Revenue NSW data shows speeding detections at most Hunter sites between July and December had already surpassed the entire 2019/2020 financial year as the government ramps up its campaign to remove camera warning signs and decals and increase the number of mobile cameras. The Hunter's offence rate for illegal mobile phone use detected by cameras was also more than double the state average.
Detections at many of the region's camera locations peaked in December 2020, following the announcement in November that warning signs and decals would gradually be removed over the following 12 months. For example, of the 141 detections at Victoria Street, Kurri Kurri in the six-month period, 92 occurred in December alone. Newcastle Road in Wallsend was the biggest hot spot with more than $68,000 coming from 409 detections between July and December. That was up from $38,500 from 231 offences across the 2019/2020 financial year.
The top 10 Hunter mobile speed camera locations for detections from July to December were:
- Newcastle Road, Wallsend: 409 detections totalling $68,497 in revenue (up from 231 detections and $38,500 in revenue in 2019/20)
- Excelsior Parade, Toronto: 396 detections, $64,918 revenue (up from 199 and $36,625)
- Main Road, Edgeworth: 249 detections, $39,703 revenue (up from 128 and $20,777)
- University Drive, Callaghan: 205 detections, $35,929 revenue (down from 433 and $79,055)
- King Street, Warners Bay: 202 detections, $36,542 (up from 95 and 15,839)
- New England Highway, East Maitland: 158 detections, $29,906 revenue (up from 113 and $32,043)
- Victoria Street, Kurri Kurri: 141 detections, $23,841 revenue (up from 59 and $12,558)
- Lake Road, Elermore Vale: 138 detections, $27,853 revenue (up from 77 and $15,334)
- Pacific Highway, Tomago: 101 detections, $17,415 revenue (up from 82 and $23,129)
- Lambton Road, New Lambton: 97 detections, $16,649 revenue (up from 59 and $10,849)
Meanwhile, mobile phone use while driving continues to be an issue on Hunter roads, as revealed by Transport for NSW data.
Mobile phone cameras operated in warning mode from December 1, 2019 to February 29, 2020, to give drivers the opportunity to change their behaviour.
The cameras' enforcement mode began on March 1, 2020. From then to December 31, the cameras checked more than 1,300,000 vehicles across Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Hunter Valley.
This resulted in 6,392 penalty notices being issued - a rate of one in every 212 drivers or 0.47 per cent.
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The offence rate was significantly lower than the state's pilot period (January to June 2019) when one in every 82 or 1.2 per cent of drivers photographed across NSW were detected using their phone illegally.
However, the Hunter's offence rate of 0.47 per cent is more than double the NSW average of 0.22 per cent of drivers (or one in 453) detected illegally using a mobile phone during this time.
Transport for NSW Safety, Environment and Regulation deputy secretary Tara McCarthy said the message with phone use while driving was simple, "get your hand off it".
"Simply taking your eyes off the road for longer than two seconds, doubles the risk of a crash," she said.
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Sage Swinton
Sage Swinton is a news reporter who was born and bred in the Hunter. She has been with the Newcastle Herald since June 2020, and covers Newcastle council as well as other general news.
Sage Swinton is a news reporter who was born and bred in the Hunter. She has been with the Newcastle Herald since June 2020, and covers Newcastle council as well as other general news.
