The Sydney suburbs with the most speeding fines in school zones
By Andrew Taylor and Nigel Gladstone
Fines totalling more than $200 million have been issued to NSW drivers for speeding in school zones in the past six years, with motorists in the northern beaches the worst offenders.
Northern Beaches highway patrol issued 3510 fines for speeding in school zones between 2017 and June 2023, followed by Bankstown (2953) and Macquarie Fields (2629).
A school zone on Pittwater Road in Narrabeen. Motorists on the northern beaches the worst offenders for speeding.Credit: Nikki Short
Overall, police issued 47,665 school zone speeding fines in that time, while speed cameras pinged drivers 863,469 times, costing them $220,638,712.
These speed camera fines included non-school-zone offences, outside signposted school times and gazetted school dates.
The NSW government operates 59 fixed speed cameras in 39 school zone locations and an additional 14 red-light speed cameras at 12 intersections in school zones.
The top ten postcodes for school zone speed camera fines are Narrabeen (2101) with 53,260, followed by Beverley Park (2217) with 49,815 and Chester Hill (2162) 44,119.
School zones have a 40 km/h speed limit and operate from 8am to 9.30am and 2.30pm to 4pm on school days.
Data from Transport for NSW shows there were 86 casualty crashes involving speeding in school zones in 2022, which resulted in three fatalities and 39 people seriously injured. One child was among the deaths, while three were seriously injured.
In the past 10 years, speed was a factor in 870 casualty crashes in school zones. This resulted in 33 deaths and 377 people seriously injured. Three children aged 5-16 years were killed and 19 seriously injured.
Transport for NSW deputy secretary for safety, environment and regulation Sally Webb said school zones are one of the safest locations for pedestrians on the state’s roads.
Webb said speeding accounted for 40 per cent of the deaths on NSW roads last year.
Speed cameras in school zones operate during school zone hours on NSW school days, Webb said. “Outside of school zone times, speed cameras in school zones operate to the signposted speed limit.”
Narrabeen’s St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School principal Virginia Outred said she would like a greater police presence during the school zone periods.
“More visible signage and more police presence [and] monitoring would certainly assist and help moderate driver behaviour,” she said.
Outred said the school continually educated students and parents about road safety, and was working with the local council to improve its kiss-and-ride zone where parents pick up their kids.
“It would appear the high number of fines are a result of drivers speeding or exceeding the speed limit in high-risk areas and ignoring the well-established road safety campaigns for school children,” she said.
University of NSW’s Transport and Road Safety Research Centre emeritus professor Raphael Grzebieta said NSW drivers are notorious for speeding.
Grzebieta also accused the NSW Labor government and the Coalition of not taking road safety seriously enough, particularly speed management.
“Members from both political parties have voiced their negative opinions about speed camera enforcement and introduced bad policies [such as] signs in front of mobile speed cameras in order to tout the populist vote,” he said.
Grzebieta said measures that would force drivers to slow down in school zones included raised crossings, dragon’s teeth road markings and speed marshals with stop or slow down signs.
He also said flashing signs attracted the attention of drivers more effectively than fixed signs.
“What is needed is a full audit of the school zones to establish whether they are constructed to best practice systems that help the drivers comply with the speed limit,” he said.
WalkSydney president Lena Huda said school zones had decreased pedestrian casualties but did not help create a safe environment for kids to walk to school.
“This is reflected in fewer and fewer children and their parents feeling it is safe to walk,” she said. “School zones only cover a small area and often surrounding streets or even the street itself have speed limits of 50 km/h or above.”
WalkSydney wants speed limits lowered to 30 km/h in residential areas and streets redesigned to make drivers intuitively stick to lower speeds.
“Low speeds on the way to school are crucial to keep children safe,” Huda said.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.