Speeding cost North West drivers over $1.8 million last year, but that's the good news

It's the best result for road safety since 2018-19.

Police attached to Oxley Police District and Oxley Highway Patrol levied just 6,570 tickets worth $1,805,532 from July 2021 to June 2022, the statistics show.

But Peel sector traffic and highway manager Inspector Kelly Wixx said the thousands of instances of bad behaviour were still far too many.

READ MORE:

She said people weren't getting fewer fines because they were better behaved.

"I think people are generally trying to do the right thing on the roads," she said.

"But more than a million dollars indicates that there are still people who continue to break the road rules, placing the community and all road users at risk."

There had been a significant increase in traffic on the New England Highway in the last year, much of it trucks forced west by floods blocking coastal highways, she said.

Paradoxically, it's possible the increase in traffic may have reduced bad driving, simply by putting too many obstacles in the way and reducing the opportunity to speed, Inspector Wixx said.

Want more local news? Subscribe to the Leader to read it here first

On the other hand, it also contributed to the risks when things went wrong. Two people died in accidents involving heavy vehicles this year, she said.

"I don't think there was a significant increase in people breaching the road rules because of this increase in traffic," she said.

"There was an increase in risk. Perhaps with the increase in traffic people weren't able to do the speed that they were because there was too many cars and trucks on the road."

Bad driving cost motorists $200,000 less in 2021-2022 than the year before, when police ticketed drivers 7,318 times.

The worst month for driving in the last financial year was October, 2021.

Support the local news that keeps you informed - subscribe today.

Police issued 791 fines worth $223,920 in that month.

Meanwhile, speeding and red light cameras cost Tamworth's drivers some $340,799, automatically issuing 2,083 tickets in the 2021-2022 financial year.

The most expensive month for speeding cameras was February, with 180 tickets worth $58,542 issued during the month.

Revenue NSW's statistics for speeding cameras do not include June, 2022.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: