Bendigo drivers hand over millions in traffic fines

The camera at the intersection of Don and High streets snared 1186 drivers in 2015-16, while 1261 drivers fell foul of the intersection of Eaglehawk and Marong roads.

Those figures were up from 858 and 1152 respectively in 2012-13, with the number of drivers caught speeding or running red lights at the Ironbark intersection representing a 34 per cent increase on the four-year low of 829.

However, the majority of the revenue raised came from fines issued following infringements at the level crossing 40 metres west of Peatlings Road, on the Midland Highway in Bagshot, where 9090 drivers coughed up $2,399,275 in 2015-16.

Senior sergeant Ian Brooks of the Bendigo highway patrol said the figures were a timely reminder to drivers that speed and red light cameras were in place for a reason – to prevent deaths on the road.

“They’re put in there because it’s identified as a high-risk location and it’s obviously a huge safety issue and motorists are expected to obey the traffic lights at the intersection,” he said.

“The ultimate consequence is that somebody has a collision at the intersection and somebody dies, and our primary focus is to reduce the number of crashes – if we reduce the number of crashes then, in all likelihood, the amount of people who are injured or die on our roads goes down with it.”

Senior sergeant Brooks said the fixed cameras’ role was twofold.

“To make people aware that the cameras are there, because there’s big signs there, but also encouraging people, because of the history of those intersections and the propensity for people to want to drive through the signals at those intersections, to increase peoples awareness that you need to stop,” he said.

“The instance of people who accelerate when the light turns yellow in an effort to get through an intersection is almost as serious an offence [as running a red light] and of course in reality in fact it’s exactly the same penalty.

“If you cross that line when the light turns red you'll get photographed.”

Senior sergeant Brooks said collisions resulting from excessive speed or drivers ignoring red lights had a “whole of community impact”.

“From the people who know the people who are injured or die in a collision right through to the people who have to attend the collision, the volunteers from the CFA and SES and the permanent staff from the CFA, staff from Ambulance Victoria, and of course the police staff who have to attend these collisions and clean up the mess afterwards and figure out what happened – and worst of all have to go around to the relatives and inform them that someone has died,” he said.

Across the state speeding infringements detected at both fixed and mobile cameras increased in the first quarter of 2016-17 by 2.4 per cent on the previous quarter and by 3.7 per cent compared to the same period last year.

A total of 299,607 speeding infringements were recorded in Victoria between July and September last year, with 227 of those issued to drivers travelling between 40 and 45 kilometres over the speed limit and 137 issued to drivers travelling more than 45 kilometres above the limit.

The intersection with the highest number of infringements in 2016-17 was at Warrigal and Batesford roads in Chadstone, where 12,862 infringement notices were issued.

The maximum penalty for speeding offences in Victoria is $777, a loss of eight demerit points and an automatic 12 month driver’s license suspension.