Mobile speed camera warning signs will be removed from NSW roads as part of an overhaul of our road safety laws.

Currently, warning signs are located 250 metres ahead of and 50 metres after each mobile speed camera car, giving motorists an opportunity to check their speed. But new changes to the law mean motorists in NSW will no longer be warned when they approach a mobile speed camera on the road.

Minister for Transport and Roads, Andrew Constance and Minister for Regional Transport and Roads, Paul Toole announced the changes to NSW’s mobile speed camera program on 19 November 2020, which include increased enforcement hours, as well as a reduction in high visibility uniforms on vehicles and the removal of mobile speed camera warning signs.

The 45 mobile speed cameras currently in use in NSW will have their hours tripled under the new laws, from 7000 hours per month to 21,000 hours. Warning signs for fixed speed cameras will remain in place.

Mr Constance said the signs would be removed over the next 12 months in an effort to change the culture and behaviour of motorists.

“This isn’t revenue raising, this is about saving lives,” Mr Constance said.

“We’ve seen it happen with our world-leading mobile phone detection program, where the rate of people offending has steadily declined.

“No warnings signs mean you can be caught anywhere, anytime and we want that same culture around mobile speed cameras.”

The changes could save between 34 and 43 lives a year, according to independent modelling from the Monash University Accident Research Centre.

Mr Constance said people need to understand they can be caught anywhere on the road network at any time doing the wrong thing.

But although the NSW Transport Minister said the government wants motorists to experience the same threat as the random breath test, the NRMA said warning signs are imperative and play an important role in reducing crashes in high-risk locations.

“We support the use of cameras and we support the use of warning signs. We think they play an important role in education,” NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said.

“Speed cameras are put in locations with a crash history and, without the signs, we would miss an opportunity to tell people to slow down.”

Mr Khoury said we want people to change their behaviour behind the wheel, not three weeks later when they get a fine in the mail.

If you’d like to check where speed cameras are located in NSW, current locations will continue to be published on the Centre for Road Safety website.