Speed cameras hailed as road toll falls 10pc

[OnaMission]

Speed cameras hailed as road toll falls 10pc

Covert speed cameras credited with helping

-QLD and VIC the safest states to be on road
-Australia's holiday road toll is at 44 deaths
-Nationwide campaigns targeting speeding drivers appear to have brought results, with a 10 per cent reduction in road deaths last year.



Overall, 1368 people died in road crashes last year, down 139 from 1507 deaths in 2009.

The introduction of covert speed cameras has been credited with helping reduce Queensland's road toll by a quarter to the lowest level since records began in 1952, with 247 deaths last year compared with 331 in 2009.

Despite booming population growth, Queensland and Victoria are the safest places to be on the roads.

Queensland recorded 18 per cent of the nation's road deaths last year but has 20 per cent of Australia's population.

Victoria has 25 per cent of the population but recorded 21 per cent of national road deaths, with 291 people killed, one up from 2009.

The evidence from Queensland's speed camera changes last year will put pressure on Victoria's new Baillieu government, which made a pre-election pledge to publish daily locations of mobile speed cameras.

A spokesman for Police Minister Peter Ryan said the government was consulting with police about rolling out the changes but it would not come at the expense of public safety.

"There is a wide perception that they have been revenue raisers and we want to regain public confidence in speed cameras," the spokesman said.

Opposition police spokesman James Merlino said the Coalition had to ensure any new initiatives reduced the number of road deaths.

The Northern Territory retains its position as the most deadly place for road accidents, with 3.6 per cent of last year's fatalities but only 1 per cent of the country's population.

The road toll rose from 31 in 2009 to 50 last year, the final two deaths coming from a tragic accident on New Year's Eve that killed two children.

Currently Australia's holiday road toll sits at 44 after a man was killed in a single-car collision in Bathurst yesterday evening.

The 31-year-old male driver was treated at the scene by paramedics and taken to Orange Base Hospital with minor injuries.

His passenger, a 22-year-old Mount Druitt man, died at the scene.

His death takes the NSW holiday toll to nine.

The death was one of four yesterday, with one in Queensland and two in Victoria.

Police said a cyclist in his twenties was killed in a single-vehicle accident at Booroobin, near Maleny, on the Sunshine Coast hinterland, taking the Queensland toll to 12 for the holiday period.

Earlier, the death of a 53-year-old cyclist at Drysdale, south-west of Melbourne and the death of a man in a hit-run at Bendigo pushed Victoria's Christmas holiday road toll 16.

Three people have died in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, while Tasmania has recorded one fatality.

South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory remain fatality free.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: AAP

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