The Western Australian government has confirmed cutting-edge safety cameras that can detect mobile phone and seatbelt offences will soon be installed along Great Southern roads in the state.
The two safety camera trailers will be set up in Albany and will rotate around the Great Southern region, with caution notices now being issued for mobile phone and seatbelt offences in WA.
The cameras are part of the next phase of the WA government’s safety camera rollout, with this technology being the most advanced safety cameras in the nation as they have the capability of detecting multiple offences simultaneously including speeding, illegal mobile phone use and the improper use of a seatbelt.
These cameras are also able to detect towed and heavy vehicles limited to 100km/h speed limits, as well as spot and point to point average speed.
“Regional drivers are overrepresented in serious crashes and the rollout of these safety cameras is about saving lives,” WA police and road safety minister Reece Whitby says.
“These cutting-edge technology has been successful in the Perth metropolitan area and now dangerous drivers are being put on notice across regional WA.
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“The Great Southern is a vast and beautiful part of our state and we want to keep visitors and residents safe. My message is simple: put the phone away, wear your seatbelt properly, and slow down. Break the rules, and you will be caught.”
The Great Southern cameras follow four safety camera trailers operating in the Perth metropolitan area and fixed cameras on the Kwinana Freeway detected nearly 107,000 mobile phone and seatbelt offences since January.
Now, the Road Safety Commission will issue caution notices to drivers in the Great Southern region detected committing a mobile phone or seatbelt offence by the safety camera trailers.
The purpose of a caution notice period is to inform the community about the capabilities of the new type of safety camera technology, to educate about the dangers of distracted driving and not wearing a seatbelt and to give drivers an opportunity to change their behaviour before enforcement commences.
The next phase of the safety camera rollout will see two of the safety camera trailers based in Geraldton and deployed across the Mid West region.
“Regional road fatalities represented 60 per cent of the road toll in 2024 with three in every four serious crashes on regional WA roads involving a local driver either within their own local government area or an adjacent one,” WA road safety commissioner Adrian Warner says.
“A key focus of the safety camera program is ensuring safety cameras are used on a range of regional roads, particularly those where people have sadly lost their lives.
“Camera locations are guided by crash data and advice from the WA Police Force and Main Roads Western Australia to ensure a wide spread of geographical deterrence, but the message is: ‘anywhere, anytime’, so put the phone away and click that seatbelt in.”
The safety camera program is funded through the Road Trauma Trust Account, which sees 100 per cent of safety camera infringements allocated to projects and programs which reduce injuries and deaths on Western Australian roads.
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