DRIVERS with a taste for speed are being put on notice about a trial of average speed cameras being rolled out along two deadly stretches of road.
To date, their use has been restricted to heavy vehicles, tracking the time it takes them to travel between two points to calculate an average speed.
The trials will take place on a 15 kilometre stretch of the Pacific Highway, between Kew and Lake Innes at Port Macquarie, and on 16 kilometres of the Hume Highway, between Coolac and Gundagai.
The NSW Government says the locations were chosen based on factors including their crash history - six fatalities and 33 serious injuries between 2018 and 2022.
Speed kills
Speeding remains the biggest killer on NSW roads, contributing to 41 per cent of all fatalities over the past decade, the government says.
While regional NSW is home to just a third of the population, it is where two-thirds of all road deaths occur.
The road toll stands at 227, two more than at the same time in 2023.
The trials, expected to start mid next year, will run for 60 days during which drivers caught speeding will receive a warning letter rather than a fine. After that, penalties such as fines and demerit points will apply.
NSW to 'catch up'
The Minister for Roads John Graham said, during a visit to the Hunter on Sunday, NSW was the only jurisdiction using average speed cameras but restricted their use to heavy vehicles only.
"All other mainland Australian states and countries like the UK, Norway, Italy and the Netherlands have found average speed cameras to be effective and we aim to be as rigorous as possible to be sure they will also reduce road trauma in NSW, Mr Graham said.
"Before any trial begins, the NSW Government will conduct a comprehensive awareness campaign to inform the public about average speed cameras and a 60-day warning letter period will give motorists time to adjust to their use in these limited locations."
The Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Jenny Aitchison said the goal of the trial goal was to assess how effective the cameras can be in changing speeding habits and potential trauma benefits.
"The trial of the average speed cameras for light vehicles is about encouraging all drivers - regardless of the size of their vehicle - to rethink their attitudes to speeding on our roads and change their behaviour," Ms Aitchison said.
The measure would reduce deaths on the road by about 50 per cent, Ms Aitchison said.
The average speed camera trial will build on other road safety initiatives introduced by the Minns Labor Government, including the use of the existing mobile phone camera detection network to enforce seatbelt laws, the return of a system which rewarded drivers for maintaining a demerit-offence-free driving record, and a doubling of mobile speed camera sites across 2700 new locations.
Drivers caught speeding or running a red light paid out more than $9.6 million in fines across Newcastle and Lake Macquarie in the 2023-24 financial year.
According to Revenue NSW, data has revealed the worst-hit suburbs for mobile, fixed and red light speed camera offences in the 2023-24 financial year.
