Footscray speed cameras top earners

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Goya Dmytryshchak

Footscray has one of the state’s highest-earning road safety camera locations, detecting 2930 speeding and unregistered vehicles in the past financial year.

The camera in Ballarat Road, between Geelong Road and Jamieson Avenue, was No. 5 in Victoria’s top five mobile locations for revenue.

Driving an unregistered vehicle incurs a penalty of $826.

Speeding fines for full licence holders range from $207 and one demerit point for being less than 10 kilometres over the limit to an $826 fine and 12-month automatic loss of licence for being 45 kilometres over the limit.

Penalties are more severe for heavy vehicles.

Running a red light will incur a $413 fine and three demerit points.

Wyndham Vale had the state’s highest-earning location, with a camera in Black Forest Road, between Brimpton Grove and McGrath Road, detecting 3740 drivers.

Road trauma costs Victoria between $4 and $6 billion per year from serious injuries and fatalities, according to the Department of Justice and Community Safety, which oversees the cameras.

“Speed and red-light cameras improve road safety by reducing speeding and thus lowering the number of crashes and associated road trauma.”

Approved mobile camera locations are updated monthly by the department and published online.

The state government is spending $35 million on new generation, AI-enabled camera systems to detect illegal mobile phone use, absence of a seat belt and other offences.

They are expected to be in use by next year.