If a speed camera catches you in South Australia, the number printed as the fine is not the number you pay. The cheapest speeding band carries a $215 expiation fee, and a $108 Victims of Crime Levy is added on top of it. That makes the real starting price $323.
Here is the full scale for exceeding a signed speed limit, before the levy is added.
- Less than 10 km/h over: $215 and 2 demerit points
- 10 to 19 km/h over: $484 and 3 demerit points
- 20 to 29 km/h over: $987 and 5 demerit points
- 30 to 44 km/h over: $1,793 and 7 demerit points
- 45 km/h or more over: $2,018 and 9 demerit points
The levy most drivers forget
The Victims of Crime Levy is $108 for anyone aged 18 or over, and $20 for under 18s. The South Australian Government speed camera site states plainly that published fine amounts do not include it. On the lowest band that levy is a third of what you actually hand over. At the top it turns $2,018 into $2,126.
The points matter as much as the money
Every band carries demerit points, starting at 2 and climbing to 9. South Australia's guidance is blunt about the consequence: accumulate too many and you lose your licence. A single detection at 45 km/h or more over the limit carries 9 of them.
SA cameras look for more than speed
The state's own camera guide lists what the equipment detects, and it goes well past speeding and red light running. Depending on the camera, they also pick up unregistered and uninsured vehicles, and the point to point network is built to detect when drivers attempt to evade a site. Safe-T-Cam cameras on major arterial roads sit separately again, watching for heavy vehicle driver fatigue and unregistered vehicles.
Why the cameras sit where they do
Almost 50 per cent of all fatal and serious injury crashes in metropolitan South Australia happen at intersections, along with 21 per cent of those in rural areas. Up to 30 per cent of crashes at signalised intersections are the result of red light running. That is the reasoning behind putting most fixed cameras at intersections rather than on open road.
Where the money goes
Apart from the Victims of Crime Levy, funds collected through speed and red light camera fines are returned to road safety through the Community Road Safety Fund, which pays for education, engineering improvements and enforcement programs.
Sources: Government of South Australia speed camera program, and South Australia Police expiable offences and fees schedule for traffic, effective 1 July 2026.
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