Mobile phone and speed detection cameras have been egged and vandalised by angry motorists in response to the controversial introduction of unmarked devices.
Four CCTV cameras attached to mobile phone detection trailers have been damaged with hammers, set alight and drawn on with graffiti across New South Wales.
The operators of mobile speed camera vehicles who park on the side of the road have also been verbally abused by drivers who have thrown eggs, bottles and food in their direction.
Multiple mobile phone and speed camera vandalised across NSW by angry motorists (pictured)
Four CCTV cameras attached to mobile phone detection trailers have been attacked across New South Wales with one being vandalised with graffiti
NSW Police Minister David Elliot described the damage as ‘childish’.
‘I can understand the anger, but they need to understand every dollar raised goes back into road safety,’ he told 9News.
The vandalism comes as Sydney motorists have been slugged with more than $5.27million in fines from unmarked speed cameras in last month alone.
Fines handed out to NSW drivers have soared by 900 per cent since the removal of the ‘Speed Camera Ahead’ signs that were previously required to be placed 250m before the camera.
NSW Police Minister David Elliot described the damages as ‘childish’ as four CCTV cameras were vandalised across the state (pictured)
Despite the controversial removal of warning signs, and 23,149 drivers being hit with fines in March alone, it has made virtually no impact on road fatalities.
Ninety-three people have died on NSW roads so far this year, compared to 94 for the same period in 2020.
Nationals MP Wes Fang, who has been vocal about his disapproval of Transport Minister Andrew Constance’s move, said drivers in regional areas of the state are most impacted.
‘I fear that we are having a detrimental effect on rural and regional families because people are losing their licenses and then their livelihoods all to raise more money to prop up the state’s balance sheet,’ Mr Fang told The Daily Telegraph.
Sydney motorists have been slugged more than $5.27million in fines from unmarked speed cameras last month alone
Fines handed out to NSW drivers have soared by 900 per cent since the removal of the ‘Speed Camera Ahead’ signs that were previously required to be placed 250m before the camera
Despite the controversial removal of warning signs, and 23,149 drivers being hit with fines in March alone, just one extra life has been saved this year
‘Every time we see a speeding fine it’s potentially one more worker whose lost his or her license, one more family that will be without an income.’
According to Revenue NSW data, 33,634 mobile speed camera fines were dished out in February.
From January to the end of Match this year, $14.88million in fines were issued to NSW drivers, compared to just $1.25m in the same period in 2020.
Labor’s Roads spokesman John Graham slammed the removal of warning signs as revenue raising by the Liberal Government.
‘They will be popping champagne corks down at the Treasury when they see these record figures,’ he said.
Mr Constance said in November when the changes were announced that it wasn’t about revenue raising but about saving lives, with the signs removed over a 12-month period to change motoring behaviour.
According to Revenue NSW data, 33,634 mobile speed camera fines were dished out in February
NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said it was not good policy as cameras were put at crash-prone locations with signs which educated drivers.
‘We’ve lost all of that education, we still have the enforcement but all too often people don’t find they’ve done the wrong thing till two or three weeks later,’ he told 9News Sydney.
‘It will catch people, it just won’t change their behaviour.’
From January to the end of Match this year, $14.88million in fines were issued to NSW drivers, compared to just $1.25m in the same period in 2020
