Queensland motorists have been hit with an extra $87 million in speeding fines in the past year after the state government significantly hiked the penalties and changed the fine brackets.
The government brought in the tougher penalties in July last year along with a new road safety strategy aimed at eliminating fatalities on Queensland roads by 2050.
After the new penalties came into effect, authorities gave out $332 million in fines to speeding drivers in 2022-23 — the equivalent of $909,000 per day or $10.50 every single second.
This was a 35.7 per cent jump from the $244.7 million in infringement notices issued in 2021-22, before the increased fines were introduced.
Despite the total value of issued fines rising, the actual number of infringement notices that authorities gave out fell from 973,727 to 806,794 over the same period.
In 2022, 299 people lost their lives on Queensland roads — the highest road toll since 2009.
Transport Minister Mark Bailey said the reduction in fines showed the government’s tougher penalties for “high-risk behaviours” were working.
“The number of lives lost at this point this year is 10 less than this time last year, which is showing some improvement,” he said.
“Research shows that the use of monetary penalties, demerit points and the potential of licence loss is effective in deterring motorists and changing driving behaviour and attitudes.”
Motorists who are caught speeding in Queensland are fined according to where they sit on a five-tier penalty system.
The lowest tier used to apply to drivers nabbed travelling between 1 to 12kph over the limit, and attracted a fine of $183.
But under the new penalties introduced by the government last year, this fine bracket was narrowed to 1 to 10kph, and the fine value lifted to $287.
It meant the subsequent tier, which used to be between 13 to 20kph, was widened to 11 to 20kph over the limit, and the fine value hiked from $275 to $431.
In 2021-22, before the government tweaked the fine tiers, motorists who were caught in the lowest band received 70 per cent of all fines, but this has now shrunk to 55 per cent with the new brackets.
At the same time, the proportion of heftier fines being issued in the now-widened 10 to 20kph bracket has increased from 24 per cent to 39 per cent.
It means tens of thousands of extra drivers are now facing steeper penalties in the wake of the changes to the tiers.
Mr Bailey said the brackets were changed to align with crash risk, technology capabilities, and the speeding penalty brackets of many other Australian jurisdictions.
(ABC)
