Suburbs ‘safer’ for traffic fines

Six suburban Geelong speed and red light cameras caught only 53 motorists between them during the September quarter, latest figures have revealed.
The 53 drivers paid a total of $20,087 in fines for the low number of infringements.
The totals contrasted Geelong’s freeway camera system, which extracted almost $5.3 million in fines from 23,118 drivers.
A camera at the intersection of Thompson Road and Separation Street, Bell Park, averaged one infringement a month for the three months from July to September. The camera’s fine revenue was $1137.
A camera at the intersection of Church Street and Shannon Avenue, Geelong West, nabbed five drivers who paid $1895.
Cameras at the intersections of Princes Highway and Purnell Road, Corio, and Settlement and Torquay roads, Belmont, each caught nine drivers for $3411.
South Geelong’s intersection of Moorabool and Fyans streets snared 11 driver, costing them $4169, while a camera at Shannon Avenue and Aphrasia Street, Newtown, caught 16 for $6064.
Another 230 motorists paid $61,190 at the remaining five suburban cameras.
A controversial red light camera at the intersection of The Boulevard and Melbourne Road, Norlane, caught 117 drivers for fines totalling $43,929 after a high of more than $400,000 every quarter in 2013 following the opening of an adjacent Bunnings store.
Department of Justice’s Cameras Save Lives website showed that one camera on the Princes Freeway at the Point Cook-Forsyth Road Bridge Geelong-bound was the fourth highest grossing hotspot in the state.
The camera nabbed 5856 drivers with fines totalling $1.33 million, a 29 per cent increase on the previous quarter.
The Department of Justice said the spike was expected due to maintenance on the camera in the previous quarter.