Three important facts every road user needs to know about the "speed kills" road safety policy.

1) Speed cameras are doing more harm than good because they are not being used for their intended purpose. Speed cameras were designed to be highly visible and situated at black spots in order to slow traffic, not hidden to raise revenue. Motorists have now changed focus from safety to avoiding the camera.

2) Not even 2% (two percent) of road fatalities are caused through travel above set speed limits. The vast majority of fatalities therefore occur below set speed limits yet there is no road safety initiative on below the limit speeding.

3) Studies used to justify the use of speed cameras have road crash data from ABOVE the speed limit removed.

The current speed kills policy has failed - more of the same is not working.

FACT 1 - Speed cameras are doing more harm than good. The road toll should be lower.

The following two tables show the number of people killed on Australian roads over two eight year periods - 1989 to 1996 and 1997 to 2004. Data source: Australian Transport Safety Bureau ATSB. (Report broken link.)

1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996
2801	2331	2113	1974	1953	1928	2017	1970

Over the first 8 year period above the road toll fell by 30% over the period - without speed cameras. (From 2801 to 1970 fatalities - a reduction of 831 road deaths per year.)

1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
1767	1755	1764	1817	1737	1715	1621	1583

Over the second 8 year period the road toll only fell by 10% compared to 30% for the preceding period. (From 1767 to 1583 fatalities - a reduction of only 178 road deaths per year.)

The road toll for 2005 was up to 1635 and 2006 was 1615 which has totally reversed the trend with an alarming rise in 50km/h zone fatalities.

So why are things getting worse?

The only major factor that changed during the second (1997 to 2004) period was the widespread introduction of speed cameras with lower speed limits accompanied by a reduction in the number of police officers on our roads. Our perception tells us that tough speed limit enforcement would have to reduce the road toll. The facts tell us a totally different story - that speed cameras are in fact making things worse.

• Vehicles are being built safer - that has not stopped with Nissan alone claiming a 22% reduction in fatalities through improved safety features in their vehicles from 1995 to 2003. Data source. Other manufacturers are no doubt doing the same.
• The roads have improved even though there is much more that needs to be done.
• Paramedic skills and equipment have improved.
• During the latter period above we experienced widespread drought conditions making roads safer than during average rainy conditions.

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FACT 2 - Not even 2% (two percent) of road fatalities are caused through travel above set speed limits.

The justification for speed cameras normally claims that from 30% to 40% of fatalities are caused by "speeding".

Our research however shows that not even 2% (two percent) of road deaths are caused by travel above set speed limits. This means that even with nationwide speed limit compliance, speed cameras cannot reduce the road toll by any more than 2% or around 32 lives per year. Importantly, around half of this 2% still involve police chases, criminal activity, suicides and more. Not the behavior of the average responsible motorist.

Our 2% against their 40% may look like a wild claim - the answer becomes clear in Fact 3 below.

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FACT 3 - No data from ABOVE the speed limit.

The justification for speed cameras is based on a lie.

The major road safety focus by most State Governments is a massive clampdown on traveling above set speed limits - almost to the visible exclusion of all other safety measures. The whole issue is about traveling over the speed limit, not under it. State Governments use a number of university studies as well as their own reports to justify speed camera legislation yet not a single study that we can find reports the number of road crashes that are caused through travel above the speed limit.

It is important to note that it is technically impossible for a speed camera to detect or deter travel below a speed limit.

It has become a serious and costly offence with the public paying hundreds of millions of dollars for traveling above set speed limits yet 98% of fatalities occur below the speed limit. Speed cameras are therefore no deterrent to driving too fast for the conditions but below the speed limit where the vast majority of crashes occur.

The reason for hiding the above the speed limit data is clearly that if it was quoted then any justification for speed cameras would be removed. For this reason data from below the speed limit is used when quoting road crash statistics for the purpose of justifying speed cameras. In the studies the words ABOVE and BELOW the speed limit are removed and substituted with words such as "Speeding" and "Non Speeding".

The leading document used by NSW for the justification of speed cameras is a prime example. It is called Speed Problem Definition and Countermeasure Summary. It claims, “speeding still accounts for around 40% of all fatal crashes in NSW" and carries on to state, "speeding can also involve traveling too fast for the prevailing conditions, despite traveling UNDER the posted speed limit.”

This means that road crash data from below the speed limit can be included in their definition of "speeding". This is false and misleading and Australians are suffering hardship because of laws and penalties based on these reports.

This lie could be accepted if it was saving lives - it is not. The opposite is happening and in fact the road toll is rising alarmingly in 50km/h zones.

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Nearly one person a day would not be killed.

If the 1989 to 1996 reduction in road deaths had been allowed to continue then 350 people would not have died on our roads in 2004. It was even worse in 2005 with an increase of 52 (from 1583 in 2004 to 1635 in 2005). 2006 is higher than 2004 at 1615. Clearly more of the same is a disaster.

We have a serious problem that is not being addressed while speed cameras continue to rake in millions of dollars.

A brave initiative is required - a return to the previous sensible policies. Bring back the cops cruising the roads in blue and white police cars and put clearly signposted speed cameras only at black spots.

Don't say we haven't got the money to put more cops on the beat. Our state governments receive the revenue from speed cameras as well as all GST payments which includes GST on petrol and diesel fuel.

Why are speed cameras adding to the road toll?

Nearly one person a day is dying on our roads who would not be dying had the old common sense policy been allowed to continue.

A return to sensible policies is urgently required in order to save lives on our roads.

Tell your local MP, newspaper, radio and TV station, motoring association about the facts. These are not wild claims - check the Government data on the ATSB site, do your own calculations to confirm the facts stated here. (Report broken link.)

There is much more about these alarming facts on this site. Click "About" on the menu.