Two surgeons have called for point-to-point cameras to be turned on for speeding cars in order to reduce the road toll.
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James Masson, a reconstructive plastic surgeon in Wagga, said using point-to-point cameras would make the roads safer.
“It’s been shown to work really well with trucks and they are using them in other jurisdictions in Australia and it would make sense,” he said.
“The big triad for fatalities on the road is speed, alcohol and fatigue,” he said.
Dr Masson said that reducing the speed will have an effect on road crashes and road fatalities.
“The infrastructure is all there,” he said.
“I don’t think motorists can complain that these are hidden or sneaky cameras, they are the most obvious things on the highway.”
Dr John Crozier, chairman of the National Trauma Committee at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, said that Premier Gladys Berejiklian needs to engage on the discussion around point-to-point cameras.
“Safety is not a popularity contest,” he said.
“The pleasing thing is the premier has given support to the installation of 11 more point-to-point systems, or average speed systems [targeting trucks].
“It’s disappointing that the opportunity to get the maximum benefit using them as intended for all road users has been missed.”
While the cameras are expensive to install, the current systems in place across the state already have the capabilities to monitor speeding cars.
“The taxpayers have already paid for the [point-to-point] capability, we just need to turn the switch on,” Dr Crozier said.
“At least 10 per cent of our serious injury and our hospitalisation burden would be removed, at the the flick of a switch.”
Centre for Road Safety executive director Bernard Carlon said the government has a strong package that strikes the right balance to combat speeding in regional areas.
“The NSW government’s comprehensive Road Safety Plan 2021 includes 11 additional heavy vehicle average speed camera locations in NSW,” he said.
“The plan is supported by an integrated speed camera framework that includes the existing 171 red light speed camera locations, 110 fixed camera locations, 25 average speed camera lengths and 1048 locations where mobile speed cameras are used.
Mr Carlon said that almost eight in 10 fatalities on regional roads where the limit is 100km/h or higher involves the vehicle crossing the centre line.