Red Light Camera News Documents reveal why dangerous intersections don't have red-light cameras
Documents reveal why dangerous intersections don't have red-light cameras
Miles Kemp
From: The Advertiser September 17, 2011 12:00AM
MANY of the city's most dangerous intersections have missed out on red-light cameras because selection criteria include the cost of crashes to the State Government, not just injuries and deaths.
Until now, the reasons behind where the cameras are placed - many at high-volume intersections not considered high-crash risks - have been a mystery to groups such as the Motor Trades Association.
MTA SA executive director John Chapman said he was "staggered" at the details in documents released under Freedom of Information laws.
"This is evidence of the need for an audit of why speed cameras are located where they are," he said.
State governments have maintained that red-light cameras are used to reduce the road toll at the most dangerous intersections, but the documents reveal site selection is also based on the financial costs of accidents to government, and property damage.
(Note: Poll on the site:
Are red-light cameras for safety or revenue?
Safety measure 9.41% (118 votes)
Revenue raiser 90.59% (1136 votes)
Total votes: 1254
as of 10:00 am est 9/18/2011)
For example, the intersection of South Rd and Manton St at Hindmarsh has the most accidents in Adelaide, but in terms of costs it ranks at 29th and has no red light camera.
Similarly, the Grange Rd and Tapleys Hill Rd intersection at Fulham Gardens has the third-highest number of accidents but is only the 45th most costly. Factors included in the cost of accidents that do not relate directly to road safety include the cost of repairing damaged government infrastructure and running costs for the Motor Accident Commission.
A Transport Department spokesman conceded that the cost of crashes was used in site selection along with factors such as road safety.
He said the criteria were also used by other transport authorities but that planned changes were expected to give more weight to human injury, suffering and death.
Mr Chapman said there might be good reasons for the non-safety-related factors behind the location of red-light cameras but these needed to be publicly revealed.
Anti-speed-camera campaigner Family First MLC Robert Brokenshire said the documents showed costs were influencing site selection.
"There are at least 20 sites with red-light cameras that ... haven't had a fatality in 10 years; yet there have been 18 fatalities at other sites that have been considered for cameras and rejected," he said.
When the most recent camera locations were chosen, in 2009, then road safety minister Michael O'Brien said they would be placed "anywhere we have an issue with fatalities and serious casualties".
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