BY DAKOTA TAIT
Revenue from unmarked mobile speed cameras has skyrocketed in January, with fines flying into the pockets of Hunter motorists.
The NSW Government announced they would scrap warning signs for mobile speed cameras and triple their hours of operation in November last year.
The Government then announced they would go one step further in January, by removing the large reflective markings on the speed camera cars.
Statewide figures showed revenue of $3.4 million in January alone, $3 million more than in the same period a year before.
Edgeworth's Main Road dealt out a hefty $1,554 in fines this January - more than four times the previous January.
Motorists on Wallsend's Newcastle Road also copped 116 fines worth $21,354 just last month, compared to 37 fines and $5,950 in revenue the January prior.
Cameras along the New England Highway at East Maitland also scored 111 more fines this January than the same time last year, or around $20,000 in fines.
Transport Minister Andrew Constance told a parliamentary hearing the changes weren't about raising revenue, but only saving lives.
"You speed, you kill, and we have the fines to stop people speeding," Mr Constance said.
"And what's gone on over the last 12 months, where speed is now contributing an extra ten percent of fatalities in this state, we have no choice."
Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison said the large number of fines didn't show an improvement in road safety, but the opposite.
"The Government should be advertising these changes, not rolling them out in silence," Ms Aitchison said.
"The seven-and-a-half-fold increase in fines shows conclusively that having signage on these detection devices slows drivers down. Getting a fine in the mail two weeks later doesn’t."
