The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) endorses the NSW and Victorian Auditor-Generals recommendations on road safety and plans to scrap red light and speed camera warning signs.
Dr John Crozier, Chair of the Trauma Committee of RACS, who co-chaired an Inquiry into the National Road Safety Strategy 2011 2020 said that research shows that the warning signage of an approaching road safety camera system reduces its overall effectiveness.
The National Road Safety Strategy includes research that shows the best way to maximise road safety outcomes is to maintain an element of randomness in camera deployments without signage. World Health Organisation and OECD research also supports the use of mobile speed cameras without warning signage.
In November 2018, the NSW Auditor General, reported that speed surveys indicate that fewer than 50 per cent of drivers comply with the 40 km per hour speed limit in school zones. This is despite increasing signage to reflect the different speed limits during school zone hours.
Queensland and Victoria deploy covert as well as unconcealed mobile speed camera (MSC) vehicles, with limited or no signage, and the number of infringements issued in these jurisdictions is many times higher.
Dr Valerie Malka, Chair of the Road Trauma Subcommittee of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, also voiced support for the usage of road safety camera systems without warning signage. She expressed praise for the work of NSW Centre for Road Safety, which shows the reduced crash incidence in NSW from road safety camera system use to date, but also of the further reduction of death and serious injury rates that will follow removal of the road safety camera warning signage for all road users.
