For many years, New South Wales’ average speed cameras have been used solely to detect speeding in heavy vehicles and trailers with a gross vehicle mass greater than 4.5 tonnes.
Finally that’s about to begin changing.
Despite Australia’s other mainland states and the ACT using the camera technology for both heavy and light vehicles, as part of their speed enforcement programs, NSW has lagged behind.
There are currently 25 average speed enforcement lengths in regional NSW and six average speed enforcement lengths in the Sydney Metropolitan area. These average speed enforcement lengths are on known heavy vehicle routes, said to have an over-representation of heavy vehicle crashes.
In September 2024, the NSW government announced a trial to expand average speed cameras from heavy vehicles to light vehicles. This includes cars, motorcycles and utes.
The trial was a recommendation from the 2024 NSW Road Safety Forum. It will see the NSW Government flick the switch on cameras which measure a 15km stretch of the Pacific Highway between Kew and Lake Innes and cameras on the Hume Highway which measure a 16km stretch between Coolac and Gundagai to capture speeding light vehicles.
These two stretches have been chosen based on several factors, including known crash history. These sites saw a combined total of six fatalities and 33 serious injuries between 2018 and 2022.
Interestingly, data shows that in the past five years (2018-2022) almost 80 per cent of all fatalities and serious injuries across all existing 31 average speed camera lengths in NSW did not involve a heavy vehicle.
For the trial, average speed cameras will be switched on to warning mode for light vehicles in the two key regional locations from May 1.
The trial will have a two-month warning letter period for light vehicle drivers caught speeding on both lengths of road before it is switched to full enforcement mode.
From July 1, those detected speeding will face fines and demerit point penalties. Existing enforcement of heavy vehicle offences at these sites will be unaffected by the trial.
Road signs will notify all drivers that their speed is being monitored by the cameras on the trial stretches, giving them the opportunity to adjust their speed as needed.
Commenting on the trial, Minister for Roads, John Graham said: “We know that speed remains our biggest killer on the road, contributing to 41 per cent of all fatalities over the past decade.
“Studies from around the world show that using average speed enforcement cameras for all vehicles reduces the road toll, and road trauma.”
Minister for Regional Transport and Roads, Jenny Aitchison added, “Regional NSW is home to a third of the population but is where two-thirds of all road deaths happen.
“With the majority of road trauma occurring in our regions we have chosen two regional locations to test the impact these cameras could have on road safety for all road users.”
The trial will run for 14 months in total – two months in warning mode and 12 months of enforcement.
The NSW Government will report back to Parliament on the outcomes of the trial in 2026.