State scoops $10m in speeding
windfall
From The West Australian Front Page
By Ben Harvey and Amanda Banks
April 24, 2003
Tougher
use of speed cameras and the new 50kmh law delivered an estimated
$10 million boost to Treasury coffers last financial year.
The extra money,
uncovered through Freedom of Information laws, has raised questions
over the effectiveness of Multanovas as a road safety tool and fuelled
concerns they are used as revenue raisers.
The Treasury
windfall was revealed in an internal State Government email which
outlined an unexpected $3.4 million payment to the Road Trauma Trust
Fund in 2001-02.
The RTTF, which
pays for road safety programs in WA, gets a third of all red light
and Multanova revenue, indicating an extra $10 million would have
been generated by the changes.
In the internal
email, a road safety finance officer explained the increase.
"Revenue
from fines was $3,421,436 over budget," the officer wrote. "This
was due primarily to the implementation of 50kmh, changes in camera
tolerance rates (both of which resulted in an infringement level considerably
higher than expected)."
In March 2001,
police announced Multanova tolerance levels would be dropped but refused
to say by how much. Nine months later the 50kmh limit came in.
Multanova and
red light camera revenues for 2002-03 are down on the previous years,
with Office of Road Safety executive director Iain Cameron expecting
$11 million in 2002-03 - indicating a total of about $35 million.
Police said
this meant fewer people were speeding. They blamed this year's rocketing
road toll on factors other than speeding.
This year's
road toll so far is 30 per cent higher than at the same time in 2002.
Shadow road
safety minister Katie Hodson-Thomas said authorities were too focused
on Multanovas.
"They are
certainly not stopping deaths on the road, which begs the question:
Why are we using them as much as we do?" she said.
The decision
to toughen Multanova tolerance levels without defining the new thresholds
caused an outcry in 2001 after it was revealed car speedometers could
be out by 10 per cent.
A recent national
survey revealed 75 per cent of respondents assumed limits were enforced
with some tolerance.
Half thought
there was at least 5kmh leeway in 60kmh zones, 39 per cent believed
tolerance extended to at least 10kmh in 100kmh zones and 78 per cent
thought 5kmh or less leeway should be given in 60kmh zones.
The Australian
Transport Safety Bureau survey, done in May, also showed WA drivers
were more likely to be booked for speeding than motorists in the Eastern
States and were less likely to support increased use of speed cameras.
