More roving cameras to keep tabs on rule-breaking Canberra drivers

More roving cameras will be used to keep Canberra motorists' behaviour in check under a new deal that will reduce the number of easier-to-avoid fixed detection cameras.

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More mobile traffic offence detection cameras are on the way for Canberra. Picture by Andrew Sheargold

The ACT has struck a new $278 million deal to upgrade its traffic and parking systems, which will include an overhaul of paid-parking infrastructure and more multi-purpose mobile traffic offence detection cameras.

Kirra Cox, the City and Environment Directorate's executive branch manager responsible for the project, said there would be at least 13 fixed traffic offence detection cameras and the number of multi-functional cameras would increase from five to 23.

"It is absolutely a road safety initiative. We have seen 12 people die on our roads this year and the traffic cameras are a really key part of our enforcement strategy," Ms Cox told ABC radio.

The ACT currently has 28 fixed cameras, including speed cameras, red-light and speed cameras and a point-to-point average speed system on Hindmarsh Drive.

Acusensus will supply transportable and fixed enforcement cameras in the ACT while Orikan will deliver a new parking system and infringement management system the government said would deliver a better experience for drivers.

The new contracts cover up to 15 years and include about $191 million for Acusensus and $64.3 million for Orikan for the new parking technology and the infringement management system.

"We only have five cameras at the moment that are capable of detecting mobile phone use and seatbelts. So the ageing infrastructure in the rest of our speeding cameras are going to be replaced with these more multi-functional devices," Ms Cox said.

The government expects the same number of enforcement hours for the transportable detection cameras.

Artificial intelligence would play a role in the assessment of camera-detected offences but public servants retained decision-making and human oversight of all infringements, the government said.

Ms Cox said the cameras would be rolled out from the middle of next year at the earliest and there would be an extensive campaign to inform motorists.

"You never get a fine if you never break the law," she said.

A leading road safety expert has previously told The Canberra Times more mobile speed cameras should be used in the ACT to discourage unsafe driving behaviour across the road network.

Max Cameron, from Monash University's Accident Research Centre, in 2023 said: "There should be more mobile speed cameras. There should be greater use of the point-to-point systems, which measure average speed; they're an alternative to the fixed cameras ... because they can cover a length of road of essentially any length."

Professor Cameron was an author of a 2019 evaluation of the ACT's road safety camera program, which argued the moveable speed cameras were the most important element of the program.

The ACT would achieve the biggest benefit from an expansion to transportable speed camera hours, the review said.

"In the most recent full year of the program analysed, the mobile speed camera program was associated with an estimated saving of over 3000 reported crashes, corresponding to savings in economic costs to the ACT community of over $60 million," the review said.

"Both these figures reflect the much higher crash coverage of the mobile camera program compared to the fixed non-intersection camera program. Estimates of mobile speed camera program crash effects by district and year correlated strongly with the hours of mobile camera operation."

A 2014 evaluation of the ACT's road safety camera program found mean percentile speeds reduced by 6 to 8 per cent on roads with mobile cameras after their introduction in 1999.

The first fixed traffic offence detection camera in the ACT was a red-light and speed camera installed on Ginninderra Drive in 2000.

Nearly 13,000 infringement notices had been issued between November 2025 and August 2026 for seatbelt offences before the Acusensus system was explicitly approved as a "seatbelt detection system".

The Canberra Liberals have sponsored a petition calling for an independent technical and administrative audit of the infringement system along with independent tests of the Acusensus technology.

"This petition does not oppose road safety laws or camera enforcement. It seeks to ensure a system imposing tens of thousands of infringements and tens of millions of dollars in penalties is independently demonstrated to be accurate, reliable, lawful and fair," the petition, led by community advocate and 2024 Liberal candidate John Mikita, said.

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