NSW Government is banking on new cameras to cut the rate of speeding truck drivers
By Brad Gardner | July 14, 2010
The NSW Government is banking on the introduction of new cameras on sections of the road network to cut the rate of speeding truck drivers.
The latest Roads and Traffic Authority annual survey on truck speeding shows a slight increase in the number of heavy vehicles exceeding the 100km/h speed limit, up from 37.3 percent in 2008 to 37.7 percent in 2009.
“To address speeding by heavy vehicle drivers, point-to-point speed cameras enforcing heavy vehicle speeding are being rolled out on 20 lengths of road with a history of heavy vehicle crashes,” an RTA spokesperson says.
Point-to-point speed cameras enforce speed limits over long stretches of road by measuring the amount of time it takes a truck to drive between two points.
“If the vehicle’s average speed is higher than the speed limit for the length of road, the driver will be booked for speeding,” the RTA’s website says.
A spokesperson for the RTA says all cameras will be installed by the end of 2011.
“The first two, between New Italy and Harwood on the Pacific Highway between Raglan and Meadow Flat on the Great Western Highway, are already operating,” the spokesperson says.
The 2009 annual survey was conducted over a week at 43 locations in 100km/h zones.
The RTA plans to use the new cameras as part of its anti-speeding strategy that includes mobile speed and safety cameras, education campaigns and engineering works.
The slight rise in speeding comes despite the introduction of chain of responsibility law, which puts the onus on all parties in the supply chain to ensure drivers do not speed.
According to the Transport Workers Union, customers are responsible for the increase in speeding incidents because they are exerting pressure on drivers to make deadlines.
TWU National Secretary Tony Sheldon cited comments made by the NSW Injury Risk Management Research Centre blaming excessive speed on incentives and pressure put on drivers.
The RTA also uses Safe-T-Cam cameras located on overhead gantries and bridges to catch trucks that are speeding, unregistered or breaking work hour regulations.