The Victorian road where speeding fines surged during lockdown

New speed camera data reveals fines on all Victorian highways fell during lockdown — except for one.

On CityLink, speeding fines were up by 66 per cent between July and September last year, compared with the same period in 2019.

There were 11,130 fines, worth $2.8 million dollars, issued on CityLink during that period.

As lockdown eased in October, CityLink speeding fines started to drop too.

In the October quarter, there were 8595 fines issued, and that fell further to 6103 from January to March this year.

The opposite was true for every other highway camera system, where speeding fines surged once the long lockdown ended.

Assistant Commissioner for Road Policing, Libby Murphy, says “people on CityLink are thinking it’s a speedway”.

“My own observations, and as you know I travel hundreds of kilometres a week … are people think it’s a speedway and they think they can speed.

“I just wonder whether people are becoming automatons and not realising they still have to obey the speed limit and just thinking because it’s an open road it’s carte blanche to speed.”

There have been five fatalities on Victoria’s roads in the past few days.

Assistant Commissioner Murphy says she’s banged her “head against a brick wall constantly” over recent driver behaviour on the roads.

“It’s a mix of things — I think it’s people not paying attention, there’s certainly indications of speed involved in these collisions.”

Press PLAY below to hear Neil Mitchell’s thoughts on lockdown speeding surge on CityLink.

Press PLAY below to hear why Assistant Commissioner Murphy thinks drivers are speeding on CityLink

Image: Asanka Ratnayake / Getty