SPEED cameras have been installed in Wodonga and will be snapping lead-footed drivers by mid-July.
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The cameras, the first of their kind in the North East, are located on the southbound approach to Wodonga from the Lincoln Causeway near the Hume Freeway overpass, which police have described as an accident blackspot.
Technicians from Melbourne-based Data Electrical Services Australia were installing the cameras yesterday.
They will be switched on after the completion of testing to ensure data can be successfully transferred to Melbourne.
The cameras will be nabbing motorists who speed and run red lights at the intersection, raising more revenue for the Victorian Government.
Sgt Cameron Roberts said police had little sympathy for drivers who broke the law.
“If the light is amber and you can stop, you are supposed to stop,” he said.
“It’s actually illegal to go through an amber light if you could have stopped.
“We’ve had a number of crashes and a lot of near-misses at that intersection, which is what we are trying to stop.
“It should also serve as a warning to people who want to put the foot down and try and beat the light change.
“The simple message is: if you can stop, just do it because you are not going to get held up for long.”
Once railway line works are completed, the speed limit across the Lincoln Causeway will be 80km/h, with Wodonga to be one of 31 locations across Victoria to have fixed speed cameras installed for the first time.
“The big issue is people coming from the causeway into Wodonga and not stopping at the lights and then coming into conflict with ones doing a right turn onto the freeway,” Sgt Roberts said.
“With some of the behaviour we see around Wodonga it may not be a bad idea to have a red light camera on every set of lights.
“But we can’t have police sitting at every intersection and the next best option is technology.
“Stopping at traffic lights is the sensible thing to do in the interests of safety.”