FNQ CAM WATCH
Speed hot-spot cameras crack down on danger
EVER feel like you’re being watched?
You certainly should if you’re a speedster with 92 mobile cameras spread across the Far North.
Tickets issued to speeding drivers have risen with police adamant cameras discourage motorists from putting their foot down, therefore reducing crashes.
A HOON with more money than sense has been snapped by the same traffic camera seven times in just five months on a busy Cairns road.
New Queensland Police Service data obtained exclusively by the Weekend Post has revealed new insights into illegal manoeuvres by Far North Queensland motorists – and the spots where drivers can be caught out by the cops.
Even though a single vehicle was nabbed flouting the law seven times by the fixed combined speed and red light camera on the Bruce Highway at Mt Sheridan, police stand by the devices as an effective way to reduce road trauma, speeding and other traffic offences.
A Queensland Police spokesman said research indicated that cameras discouraged motorists from speeding and helped to reduce the number and severity of crashes at sites where they were installed.
In 2017, a study conducted by Monash University Accident Research Centre found speed and red light cams were associated with a 30 per cent reduction in crashes causing injury.
“This represents an annual crash saving of 3900 police-reported crashes between 2013 and 2015, translating to annual savings of the community of around $1.6 billion per year,” the spokesman said.
Cairns superintendent Geoff Sheldon said the unpredictability of the mobile camera traps made them an effective deterrent for wouldbe speedsters.
“They are one of the many tools in our armoury to stop people dying on our roads,” he said.
“There are a number of tactics we use to keep people safe and they are one.”
The Far North region is home to about 2 per cent of the state’s 3500 active mobile speed cameras and the Week
end Post can now reveal all 92 locations where mobile cameras can be set up to catch leadfoot drivers.
Supt Sheldon said mobile camera placement was based on crash data and made in collaboration with the motorist lobby group RACQ.
He said they could also be used around road work sites where workers might be at risk from speeding drivers.
“We use them where and when people are getting injured,” he said.
RACQ spokesman Paul Turner said Cairns was a tourist destination with a growing population, and equally growing problems with traffic and car crashes.
“Speed is one of the fatal five for a reason and we know that speed cameras do work in slowing drivers down,” he said.
“RACQ works with the police liaison to ensure cameras are placed where they have the greatest … benefit.
“The 92 speed cameras offer a wide coverage across Cairns targeting sites with a history of crashes or other locations such as school zones.”
He said motorists needed to slow down and stay put under the speed limit for the safety of not only themselves, but other road users.