The sinking feeling present, when you see the lights flash behind, the police officer waving you to stop, or when the letter arrives in your mailbox, isn’t deterring Australian motorists from accruing speeding fines.
While vehicle owners are already massively slugged by direct and indirect taxes, we’re also topping-up Government coffers to the tune of more than $1.1 billion annually thanks to speeding fines from fixed and mobile speed cameras.
Victoria, with a smaller population than New South Wales, actually contributes more, with 2015-2016 speed camera fines of $363.15 million according to the Department of Justice and Regulation Annual Report.
New South Wales isn’t far behind. Statistics from Revenue NSW (part of the Department of Finance, Services and Innovation) show 2016-2017 revenues from speed and red light cameras at $193.92m and police-issued speeding fines at $80.86m – a total of $274.78m.
Other reported figures are Queensland ($226m), South Australia ($174m) and Western Australia ($97m). So the total tops $1.1b, even without the numbers from Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.
Have you been busted speeding lately, and did you learn from your experience? Have your say in the comments below.