Victoria’s Road Safety Camera Commissioner John Voyage has recommended there should “be prompt consideration to locating new point-to-point road safety camera systems on regional and country roads”.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
While Mr Voyage didn’t nominate locations, he said a focus should be placed on roads “with a history of road trauma”.
When asked his position on the idea, Manager of Roads and Traffic Dave Jones said the RACV’s analysis of major highways for the Australian Road Assessment Program found the the Goulburn Valley Highway between Numurkah and the NSW Border to be a high-risk section of road.
“If further investigations find vehicle speeds to be a significant issue in crashes in that area, then point-to-point cameras should be considered,” he said.
“Point-to-point cameras reinforce the need for drivers to stay within the speed limit over a long distance.”
While further detail would be needed to make the commissioner's recommendation a reality, Road Safe North East member Robert Allen said the advocacy group would support any initiative to reduce speeds.
“Our focus as a group is on more on community behaviour than funding or regulation,” he said.
“But anything that reduces speed, we would support.
“We know by reducing speed, we reduce the risk of crashing and the injury rate of crashes.
“With regards to point-to-point cameras, if there’s research that shows it’s a safety factor, than yes we would support it.”
Mr Jones said point-to-point cameras were a “fairer way of enforcing speed limits over several kilometres on a single stretch of road”.
“Motorists can manage their average speed between cameras and concentrate on road conditions,” he said.
“Should they make a mistake and momentarily exceed the speed limit, they can adjust for it before the next camera location.
Mr Jones said many motorists were not properly informed on how the cameras enforced road rules.
“Drivers may not realise that point-to-point cameras measure speed at the camera location, and the average speed between cameras,” he said.
“Point-to-point cameras reinforce the need for drivers to stay within the speed limit over a long distance, rather than only when passing a known camera location.”