Drive past a Perth school at drop-off and there is a new set of eyes on you. Western Australia's first school zone speed cameras are switched on, and infringement notices started rolling out with Term 3, which began on 20 July.
Twenty of the cameras will be installed across WA over the next two years. The Road Safety Commission says they will go into school zones identified as high risk for speeding.
Dylan Anderson
Where WA's school zone speed cameras are going
The first one is already up on Soldiers Road in Mundijong, next to Court Grammar School. The RAC says Maida Vale Primary School, Banksia Grove Primary School and Hale School have also been earmarked.
Do not assume your local school misses out. The cameras are semi-fixed and relocatable, meaning each one sits in a single spot for a long stretch and then gets moved to wherever the risk is worst. The RAC reports they will be rotated across 100 school zone locations in total.
What speeding in a 40km/h school zone costs
The cameras only operate during public school terms, between 7.30am and 9am and again from 2.30pm to 4pm. Those are the windows when the 40km/h limit applies.
WA's standard speeding penalties apply. Up to 9km/h over the limit costs $100 with no demerit points. Between 10km/h and 19km/h over is $200 and two points. Go 20km/h to 29km/h over and it climbs to $400 and three points.
Nine km/h over a 40km/h limit is not exactly hooning. In a street full of kids at knee height, that is rather the point.
Road Safety Minister Reece Whitby said the cameras are "a practical, visible reminder for drivers to slow down".
Every dollar collected goes into the Road Trauma Trust Account, which reinvests 100 per cent of safety camera fines into road safety projects.
Albany Highway drivers are next
Two of the State's safety camera trailers will soon be working the full length of Albany Highway, between Armadale and Albany.
They operate as a pair and measure average speed across distances of up to 100 kilometres, in both directions. Slowing down for the camera you can see will not help you here.
Speed is the main target, but the trailers also detect mobile phone use and seatbelt offences.
Both programs sit inside the Cook Government's $80 million Road Safety Reform package. Worth noting for the school run: your school zone timing might not match the one across town, so check the signs rather than the clock in your head.
Source: Government of Western Australia
Dylan Anderson
