The first day of a NSW Parliament speed camera inquiry has heard Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council on the state's South West Slopes, believed highly visible speed cameras were a greater deterrent than hidden ones.
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The Joint Committee on Road Safety's inquiry into mobile speed camera enforcement programs in NSW heard from multiple council, safety experts, road user group and industry representatives on Monday.
The inquiry's terms of reference include the changes to mobile speed cameras that removed warning signs from in front of camera cars and the "impact to people living in regional and rural areas".
Cootamundra-Gundagai civil works manager Mark Ellis said speeding was a great concern in the council area and a involved in a high percentage of crashes.
"Council believes that mobile speed cameras are a great deterrent for speeding although our thoughts are that the higher visibility of mobile cameras and police is a greater deterrent as a motorist visually sees it there and then and not at a later stage when notice comes in the mail," Mr Ellis said.
Mr Ellis also told the inquiry that he hat not been advised whether or not crashes had decreased after the warnings were removed from mobile speed cameras.
The inquiry has received more than 1480 submissions, including from Snowy Valleys Council, which stated that the locations of speed cameras within its boundaries included roads with low incidences of reported crashes.
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"The locations of the mobile speed cameras are sometimes on routes that appear justified according to reported crash data," Snowy Valleys' submission stated.
"The site frequently used on Batlow Road, Windowie is located within two hundred meters of a memorial of a fatal road crash."
An anonymous survey of Snowy Valleys Council staff revealed opinions "that they are a strategy for revenue raising for a cash strapped government" and the preference "for mobile speed cameras to be highly visible and therefore promote the messaging about the enforcement of speeding".
The council also raised concern about the financial impact of speeding fines compared to the region's average household income and demerit points on people who depended on their drivers' licence for employment such as orchard hands, pine planters and shearers.
Transport for NSW officials are due to appear at the inquiry on Tuesday.