LATEST figures from the State Revenue Office show the huge impact Bathurst's two red light speed cameras have had on the number of traffic offences recorded recently, revealing a massive difference compared to areas which have none.
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Since the beginning of the financial year the two cameras in Bathurst, on Durham and Stewart streets, have recorded 718 speeding and red light offences - more than the total number recorded across all of Orange and Dubbo.
Released last month, the latest State Revenue Office statistics show a total of 588 offences recorded across Orange since July 1 last year and 617 in Dubbo, all of which have come as a result of mobile speed cameras across both cities.
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The revenue raised from Bathurst's two cameras also far exceeds that of the total infringements in the Central West's other major cities, with neither Orange nor Dubbo having installed or operational red light cameras.
In fact, the $359,136 raised from the two cameras in Bathurst exceeds the total combined value of infringements recorded in Orange and Dubbo by more than $150,000.
Bathurst's two red light speed cameras - which became operational in April 2020 - have contributed to the 3694 infringements issued in the city during this financial year, worth a total value of more than $800,000.
Red-light cameras are installed based on a number of factors in line with Transport for NSW's strategy, including the number of accidents in the area.
The huge difference between Bathurst and other areas of the region comes down to a number of other factors as well as red-light cameras, including tasking and deployment of resources and prioritisation of different areas in terms of improving public safety.
Of course, annual operations like Operation Bathurst 1000 and Operation Bathurst 500 make a huge difference as well, with additional resources usually deployed in the region in line with increased traffic.
Bathurst MP and Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Paul Toole continues to reiterate messages of safety on regional roads and his comments relating to the red-light cameras in the city late last year still ring true.
"Road safety is everyone's responsibility, people should be sticking to the speed limit and not running red lights," he said in December.
"People ... are putting their lives and the lives of everyone else at risk. No one likes getting pinged for a fine, but drivers need to look at what they are doing.
"The choice you make behind the road can have fatal consequences."
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