fines for traffic offences suggest South Australia’s regime is revenue raising

[johnydep]

South Australian traffic fines are ridiculous! My sister in-law received a fine for 4 km/h over in a 60 zone. We have 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 & 110 km/h zones. We have road work signs up on the weekends with not a worker to be seen, some highways have road work speeds of 25 km/h for several kilometers with no workers. http://indaily.com.au/news/2013/12/1...traffic-fines/

Interstate comparisons of fines for traffic offences suggest South Australia’s regime is tilted towards revenue raising, a special economic report says.

The Fine State of South Australia examines national and state road fatality and injury figures from 1950 along with major policy changes such as seat belts, breath testing and speed fines.

Prepared by the SA Centre for Economic Studies, it concludes that reduced fatality and injury rates are linked to improvements in vehicle technology, road improvements and specific actions to improve driver capability and behaviour.

While increased enforcement of road rules had contributed to a reduction in fatalities and injuries, ramping up speeding fines to a level higher than other State and territories had shown no separate marked effect.

“Road traffic fines in South Australia appear higher than those in other States. To what extent do they reflect ‘dangerous’ driving? Are South Australian drivers dangerous,” the report asks.

“Road fatalities and serious injury are a complex ‘policy problem’ for government – we do not dispute that – but the reliance on heavy financial penalties in South Australia indicates an overly strong preference for revenue raising in the pursuit of greater road safety.”

The Fine State of South Australia was released yesterday as a special economic briefing focus paper.

It shows the high economic cost of personal tragedy and how it has reduced markedly since it peaked in 1974.

“..the cost of each fatality on South Australian roads in 2012 was $2.83 million, meaning that road fatalities alone in 2012 cost the South Australian economy approximately $265.5 million.

“In contrast at the peak in 1974 (382 fatalities) road fatalities cost over $1 billion (in 2012 dollars).

“These figures provide an indication of the impact that road safety programs and improvement in automotive technologies have had.

“The total cost of motor vehicle accidents is far more than the figures above.

“The cost of road accidents include not only vehicle repair costs but also costs of injury, both permanent and temporary.”

Its examination of the impact of road safety policies shows that governments often ignore the improvement in vehicle technology when assessing if their policies have worked as expected.

“Road safety policies have played an important role in reducing the number of road fatalities in South Australia.

“What is mostly missing from these contributing factors to the reduction in fatalities are improvements in vehicle technology and road improvements and specific actions to improve driver capability and behaviour.

“The South Australian picture of an increase in road fatalities commencing in the 1950s and reaching a peak in 1974-76 is very similar to the national picture with a continuing trend decline right up to the present time.

“Comparing Western Australia and South Australia for example, fatalities whether measured by fatalities per 10,000 vehicles, per 10,000 licenced drivers or per 100,000 population show the same downward trend post 1974-76 (e.g. Victoria peaked at 1,061 in 1970 and declined thereafter).

“What this suggests, for the nation as a whole, is that the principal contributing factors to the trend decline are equally applicable across the States and that they are the result of, inter alia, improved safety features and embodied technology in the automobile, all States introduction of random alcohol and drug testing and improvements in the quality of roads such as road shoulder sealing, the national black spots program, passing lanes on major highways and road safety campaigns.”

“Although the exact timing of their introduction may vary, all States have introduced random breath testing (e.g. Victoria 1976, South Australia 1981), and all have progressively lowered permissible blood alcohol readings, instituted drug testing, ‘booze buses’, hand held laser guns and fixed and mobile cameras.

“All of these policy initiatives have generally been welcomed by the public at large and each has played some role in helping to reduce road fatalities and serious injury.”

The report then examines the public’s resistance to South Australia’s highest-in-the-nation fines regime.

“..there is one sticking point and this is evident in community reaction to the lack of harmonisation across States of the level of fines for the same offence; that the level of fines often do not reflect the potential seriousness of an offence; that inconsistent speed limits create unnecessary confusion and the level of tolerance (or allowance) for above a specific speed limit is ill-defined and/or unstated.

“Motorists with a clean driving record are not rewarded. These and other reasons have cemented in the minds of the general public that particularly mobile speed and fixed cameras are employed as revenue raising devices for the government.”

The high fines, it says, leads to a further complication of licence suspension.

“Resistance to the payment of traffic fines and/or the inability to meet payment is reported to have resulted in 23,000 people having their licence suspended in 2012/1314; fine-related revocations of a licence do not necessarily result in people not driving, but continuing to drive without compulsory third party insurance (which carries its own risk).

“The fine for driving an unregistered vehicle in South Australia at or about the time registration stickers were no longer issued increased from $335 to $1,000 and the fine for driving uninsured increased from $600 to $1,500.

“It is questionable whether government conducted a sufficient information campaign (similar to drink driving) to inform the community of the subtle change in responsibility to ensure a vehicle is registered and the penalties for not doing so.”

In its analysis of the data, the report questions the high fines regime.

“Road traffic fines in South Australia appear higher than those in other States. To what extent do they reflect ‘dangerous’ driving? Are South Australian drivers dangerous?

“Road fatalities and serious injury are a complex ‘policy problem’ for government – we do not dispute that – but the reliance on heavy financial penalties in South Australia indicates an overly strong preference for revenue raising in the pursuit of greater road safety.”

In its concluding remarks, the reports authors point to a small fee charged by the State Government as an example of poor policy.

“We are aware of three Australian States in which drivers are able to access their demerit point history online, contributing to making a driver more aware that their driving behaviour needs to be modified and/or they are at risk of losing their licence.

In South Australia there is a fee of $22 to obtain a copy of your driving history.

“It is not good public policy to impose a financial barrier to access personal information which could readily be made available to all drivers.

“A sophisticated approach to enable costless and easy access to information on driver demerit points should be adopted, the access fee should be dispensed with and much greater information should be publicly available to all drivers on road safety measures.”

The report proposes a national harmonised approach as a means of restoring public perceptions and reinforcing the ultimate goal of road safety.

[zilo]

There is also the fact that a typical car costs $865 a year to rego.

[kennyboy]

SA no different to Victoria in my view

[ford71V8]

That fee of $22 (I thought it was more than that) to obtain a copy of your driving history, can be avoided if you ring and ask them with a pencil in your hand.
They will pass on whatever you need verbally over the phone.
You pay if you want it on paper.


I find it amusing and annoying that 20ish years ago I would drive from sth to nth and back again every day (about 100k a day each weekday) barely paying any attention to what speed I was doing, never lost my license for speeding and can recall only 2 speeding fines over many years. In fact my speedo didn't even work for a bunch of years, I just felt it out by the traffic around me I guess.

Now, with a lad on his Ps and a daughter about to buy a set of L plates, and me trying to set the example, I feel I am forever watching the needle doesn't creep over 60 and focussing on the next parked camera, and I end up losing my license for 3 months due to a slow accumulation of offences. All of those being 68/69/70 in a 60. This also cost me when my insurance frowned on this record and would no longer insure me.

I really don't feel I have changed my ways all that much, but the difference would be me being more aware and considerate of limits. yet this is the period that cost me money, my license and insurance problem.
It is also the time where my daily driving distance went from 100ks to about 10ks - go figure. In this 10 kilometre run the speed limit changes 15 times, more if you include the carpark limits.

Joining the dots....... they want your money, they are out to get you, and the ways they can make their cash will only increase.

[danzvtil]

yes, we also have a state government who is broke with a relatively small population off which to recover cash.
I was recently in victoria and was caught doing 10 over the limit (my fault, not paying attention), asked the cop what the damage was-$160. I almost laughed, in SA that offence would have been $600 and your left testicle.

[Squish]

I found out the hard way the other day that the fine in NSW for having foglights on has gone up to $101. Used to be 80 something a few years ago when I was with a friend who was booked for the same (after the cop couldn't prove he'd been doing burnouts). Especially annoyed since it was raining and otherwise I was doing nothing wrong but heading to night shift. The sad part is that challenging it is such a hassle that I'll probably just pay it.

[The FOMOCO]

s.a. the revenue state

[XW-BAXR6T]

Speed doesn't kill, a distracted or tired driver does.

[Ben73]

Where's all our forum member who usually only post in threads like this saying this revenue raising saves 100000 lives pe year.

[GASWAGON]

Vic is just as bad if not worse.........Bloody hell your rego is expensive!

[93EB_SXR6]

The exact reason people have been taking to the speed cameras with marble-loaded crossbows lately.

[BENT_8]

Lol, what the article fails to mention is that recently, total revenue raised from traffic offences in SA actually dropped.
There was an article a while back where the exact figures were stated, but it was a significant drop.

This shows that less people are being pinched, but when you do you cop it harder.

[The Monty]

Just as a side note. The signs say "road works". Not "road workers". The reason the speed is limited is because the road is not up to a standard that would warrant a higher speed limit. For example, no street lighting, no road markings, narrow lanes, undulating road surfaces etc.

Just my 2c.

[XR6T0Y]

I usually don't comment on these threads (at least try not to). But the other day I received a fine to a total of 400$ for 12k's over the limit.

How do you go that far over some of you may ask?

Good question.

The answer is this. When I took my car to get tuned in Adelaide a couple of weeks ago, I was driving through a 110k zone. Now the traffic was pretty busy (I was coming Meningie way into Adelaide [I don't and never have lived in a city]) and I was concentrating on said traffic. They also had roadworks going at the time which closed two of 3 lanes.
Well, unbeknownst to me, there is a thing called variable speed zones. They had changed it to a 100k zone, and I hadn't realized because I was focusing on a little thing called TRAFFIC. 3 LANES OF! And roadworks etc.

All I got told was, I was not concentrating hard enough............WHAT!?!?

[XW-BAXR6T]

I must stress here. Even though im against dodgy speed fining methods the police use, but im all for police fining drivers who are on mobile phones while driving & drink & driving. Fine them to out of the roads, driving while on a mobile phone is so common in vic & is so dangerous. bloody idiots.

[ILLaViTaR]

$370 for a red light in VIC, was expecting $240 at the most.

Thing that ****ed me off the most is I didn't run it, close call though. My car was 1/2-3/4 over the white line when the flash occurred and the light was still orange... seems they're programmed to flash 0.25 of a second before the light actually turns red.

I demanded photographic proof of the car being over the stop with the light being red however they didn't have that information... as far as I'm concerned that means they have no case. The Sergeant instead wrote "I can ASSURE you or some bs the software system is accurate" but wouldn't prove it to me. Still I ended up having to pay it as I ignored it for 3 months due to other circumstances taking up my time and it kept going up. One of those things I usually would tell them to get ****** and take me to court for (ie ignore the court threats), but I couldn't see a way to get out of it without putting myself through a long period of duress/battling them in court because you can't ignore fines. Unlike all the others it catches up to you, even though vicroads are a separate body they can still take your license I've heard which is the only reason I paid it.
But somehow my mate accumulated 5yrs of unpaid fines totaling 4k and never lost his license (you can basically ignore the court/sheriffs threats forever) but I've heard they have the authority to take your license after a certain period of time and will intervene on the situation if you get pulled over randomly driving one day. If it wasn't for the fear of losing my license I would've never paid it.

Still ****** me off to this day stolen money, the light was as orange as day.

[XW-BAXR6T]

Illavitar Id believe you, because ive seen traffic lights at warrigal road going towards mentone at intersection of warrigal road & north roads flashing cameras as soon as lights went to amber from green.

Found this very strange as i thought they were meant to go off at just before red light not at amber from green light. Am i wrong?

[johnydep]

Originally Posted by The Monty

Just as a side note. The signs say "road works". Not "road workers". The reason the speed is limited is because the road is not up to a standard that would warrant a higher speed limit. For example, no street lighting, no road markings, narrow lanes, undulating road surfaces etc.

Just my 2c.

The Transport Minister was on 891AM yesterday, discussing the road works sign. The department is currently investigating why signs are being left out on weekends when no road works is being carried out and the roads are safe to travel at speeds faster than 25 km/h. One reason they had found is that contractors where leaving signs out to save time - packing up Friday, putting up on Monday.

[johnydep]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Lol, what the article fails to mention is that recently, total revenue raised from traffic offences in SA actually dropped.
There was an article a while back where the exact figures were stated, but it was a significant drop.

This shows that less people are being pinched, but when you do you cop it harder.

There is also a huge increase in unpaid fines. Last financial year the State government wrote off millions $ in unpaid fines.

[pottery beige]

states broke, now pull your weight and contribute peasants

[GASWAGON]

Originally Posted by 93EB_SXR6

The exact reason people have been taking to the speed cameras with marble-loaded crossbows lately.

Yep its the same in the U.K.....They bloody hate them over there.

Surely a Toyota Landcrusier with a bulbar could really fix some of cameras late at 3am in the morning.....All you need to do is bend the post over lol!

[MercurySilver]

Originally Posted by Ben73

Where's all our forum member who usually only post in threads like this saying this revenue raising saves 100000 lives pe year.

Prob sitting in a car witb illegal window tint that has a tripod camera sitting in front of it facing down a hill on a country road pinning people for doing 83 in an 80 zone

[zilo]

Originally Posted by Squish

I found out the hard way the other day that the fine in NSW for having foglights on has gone up to $101. Used to be 80 something a few years ago when I was with a friend who was booked for the same (after the cop couldn't prove he'd been doing burnouts). Especially annoyed since it was raining and otherwise I was doing nothing wrong but heading to night shift. The sad part is that challenging it is such a hassle that I'll probably just pay it.

Good to see fog light laws being enforced.

Serves you right.

[Adamz Ghia]

I got pulled over in the middle of the bush for having my foggies on, woulda been bout an hour out of Oyen. Anyway the cop asked why I had them on and I told him it wasn't for looks, what do I care about that as I can't see it, but the foggies on the B series XR's actually light up the sides of the road quite a lot and if that helps me avoid having a roo as a hood ornament then I'm driving with them on. He let me off, kinda proved there are still some good ones out there...

[Spurious]

Speaking of posted speed limit signs, here in Tas' they seem to "move" quite a bit...literally!

Since I moved back here in '09 I've seen at least a dozen signs either move a few hundred metres along the road or disappear altogether.
I also dislike "END 80" signs on rural roads. Speed camera got me a beaut' in my first month back here. As the state limit is 110kph I simply assumed that's what I could do after driving past one of those signs. $130 fine told me it's not!

Just recently I drove to Port Sorell from Ulverstone to take my boat out. Local council has decided that now (xmas time) is the perfect time for road works!
From the boat ramp heading back to Devonport it starts like this... 50kph, then 60, then 80, then "end 80", then 80-60-40 for road works, then back to 60, 80 then another "end 80".
All in the space of less than 20 kilometres. What ridiculous rubbish!
I could think of harsher words!

What's worse than a committee........a council funded committee!

[Squish]

Zilo don't you have something better to do than be a little keyboard warrior princess? Leave the adults alone to talk.

@Adamz Ghia I completely agree with that, living in the bush myself I believe that any extra light you can get makes life a little safer when roos are about. That nice puddle of light the fogs throw into the tree line either side of the road has saved me quite a few dings I think.

[hedgehobb]

Originally Posted by ILLaViTaR

Still I ended up having to pay it as I ignored it for 3 months due to other circumstances taking up my time and it kept going up. One of those things I usually would tell them to get ****** and take me to court for (ie ignore the court threats), but I couldn't see a way to get out of it without putting myself through a long period of duress/battling them in court because you can't ignore fines.

But the fact remains, you chose not to go to court.

I'm not saying the system doesn't suck, but it's the best we got. Unless you want something like Judge Dredd on your ***.

edit: or worse, American cops, shoot your *** because you disrespected them

edit 2: oh, and for all those suffering from supiditis and complaining "Woe is me, I can't fathom these dog-garnit fandanged speed road limits consarnit!"

Get a sat nav! Get someone to program it to beep if you go over the limit ffs

[93EB_SXR6]

So you've never exceeded the speed limit in your life hedgehobb? Must be nice being so perfect.

[falconboy]

Being from NSW I was amazed on a recent holiday to SA how many damn cameras there where at intersections etc, particularly in Adelaide. They seemed to be absolutely everywhere. I didn't even realise until half way through my first day driving around as I found the signs to not always be obvious or even exist at the sites of all cameras. I can tell you what though, the time I was there it slowed me down, and obviously does everyone else too. I was flabbergasted how in a bunch of traffic everyone was pretty much driving along with each other at the speed limit, all very peacefully, it actually felt very surreal. I don't entirely agree with what often seems to be revenue raising, but maybe we need it in NSW to slow people down.

[bobwm]

I said it in another thread - but who decided that in South Australia road work zones are so much less safe than other states' that they require a 25km/h speed limit?

In NSW I've never seen a roadwork limit lower than 40km/h and I don't recall noticing them in Victoria or Queensland. Are reaction times slower? Older cars? Are the road workers more delicate?

If they're not careful, South Australia may get a reputation for unrealistically low speed limits and overzealous enforcement of minor traffic infractions. I wouldn't want people to start associating the state with these types of negative connotations when there's been so much good work done over the years to build up its reputation as the serial killer capital of Australia.