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NSW brings back speed camera warnings

Gina RushtonAAP
Speed warnings signs were removed across NSW in November 2020 only for fines to escalate.
Camera IconSpeed warnings signs were removed across NSW in November 2020 only for fines to escalate. Credit: AAP

Speed warnings are making a comeback on NSW roads less than a year after the removal of fixed signs triggered a major boost in fines, but this time they will be atop mobile camera cars.

The number of motorists who have copped infringement penalties since fixed signage was removed across the state in November 2020 has escalated.

But from February large double-sided blue and white warnings will again appear, only they'll be on the roofs of all mobile speed camera vehicles.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Paul Toole says the new signs will be rolled out along with an additional previously announced 1000 fixed signs.

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"This is about striking the right balance," he told reporters on Friday.

"There is no excuse for those who are speeding ... this is a government that has listened to the community."

In November, former NSW roads minister Duncan Gay told a parliamentary road safety inquiry the removal of the signs was done in good faith but was the wrong decision.

"Speed cameras are important but they shouldn't be there for entrapment," he said at the time.

Revenue NSW data shows the number of mobile digital speed camera fines where the speed limit was exceeded by 10km/h or less went from 3222 in October 2020 to 27,855 by February 2021.

Opposition leader Chris Minns welcomed the decision, saying common sense had prevailed.

"These hidden speed cameras were raising revenue on a giant scale in NSW like nothing we had ever seen before," he told reporters on Friday.

The removal of signs was about revenue raising, not road safety, he claimed.

"They were on track to collect more in one year than they collected in the previous five years, combined.

"We would much rather someone not commit the offence in the first place, rather than receive a fine in the mail two to three weeks after the offence has been committed."

The government says camera revenue goes directly into the Community Road Safety Fund to improve road safety and provide education, lifesaving infrastructure and enforcement.

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