The Queensland Government became $337 million richer last financial year thanks in part to fines from speed cameras, with a vast majority of motorists pinged for going less than 11km/h above the limit.
In the Department of Transport and Main Roads’ Annual Report for the 2023-24 financial year, the State Government announced it made $464.3 million from its Camera Detected Offence Program (CDOP) across the 12-month period.
Factoring in administrative and operational costs of $127.3 million, the state ended up with a $337 million profit – though the figure could’ve been much higher.
The CDOP was initially estimated to bring in $503.6 million throughout the 2023-24 financial year, though this figure was revised in May to $409 million – $55 million less than the final figure, according to the report.
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The financial year prior (2022-23) it collected $465.8 million from the CDOP, itself up 70 per cent on the $274.5 million collected in 2021-22.
In total, 608,794 speeding fines were handed out throughout the 2023-24 financial year, with mobile speed cameras accounting for the vast majority – 74 per cent to be exact – of the infringement detectors.
Fixed speed cameras were next, responsible for issuing 24 per cent of speeding fines, while the state’s point-to-point average speed cameras accounted for slightly less than two per cent of the figure.
It may come as no surprise that more than half of all motorists who received a speeding fine were travelling at no more than 10km/h above the posted speed limit, with 63 per cent of infringements handed out for this offence.
More than a third of motorists caught speeding were travelling between 11km/h and 20km/h in excess of the limit, with the remaining few fines split between the three categories of 21-30km/h, 31-40km/h and 40km/h-plus.
The state’s point-to-point speed cameras served up an interesting figure, being the only mode of detection which didn’t see the most fines for the lowest threshold, with a surprising 77 per cent of motorists instead being caught between 11-20km/h above the limit.
| Speed above posted limit | 1-10km/h | 11-20km/h | 21-30km/h | 31-40km/h | 40km/h+ | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile speed camera fines | 279,700 | 157,254 | 12,581 | 1959 | 991 | 452,485 (74%) |
| Fixed speed camera fines | 101,999 | 40,354 | 3047 | 670 | 339 | 146,409 (24%) |
| Point-to-point speed camera fines | 1590 | 7621 | 559 | 93 | 37 | 9900 (2%) |
| Total fines | 383,289 (63%) | 205,229 (33.7%) | 16,187 (0.27%) | 2722 (0.004%) | 1367 (0.002%) | 608,794 |
| Total fine revenue (approx.) | $118.4m | $95.2m | $11.2m | $3.2m | $2.4m | $230.4m |
In May, the Queensland Government revised its estimated revenue for the CDOP in 2024-25 from $533.7 million to $466.5 million, however given how much it overshot the lower figure last financial year, it could still take in more than $500 million.
Despite the State Government hailing the decrease as a sign of changing behaviours, Queensland’s rolling 12-month road toll is up 1.4 per cent on last year, currently standing at 288 deaths to the end of August 2024.
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