The speed camera on the Princes Highway at Berry’s southern edge issued fines totaling more than $600,000 in the 2010-11 financial year, and while that was $55,000 down on the previous year that total still made the Berry speed camera the most profitable in the region.

Crash data showed there were six collisions in the vicinity of the speed camera in the three years prior to it being installed, with people injured in four of those crashes.

However in the four years after the cameras went in there were a further six crashes, five of those resulting in injuries.

Despite crash statistics continuing at similar levels, the state government has not included the Berry speed camera in a list of those that were little more than cash cows, having little impact on crash numbers.

Instead cameras on the Princes Highway at Broughton, which generated just $9728 during the last financial year, and Bolong Road at Shoalhaven Heads, which amassed fined on $14,664, are to be switched off.

The other speed camera to be switched off is on the Princes Highway at Nowra, which was the region’s second-biggest earner with $277,309 from 1925 speeding tickets during the last financial year.

The Berry speed camera checked the speed of drivers travelling north and south on the Princes Highway, yet three-quarters of the fines were issued for people travelling south as they left the urban area and headed down a hill towards open fields and the start of a 100km/h zone.

Just on three-quarters on the people fined at the location, 74.4 per cent, were travelling at or below 60km/h in the 50km/h zone.

Kiama MP Gareth Ward urged Roads Minister Duncan Gay to take a fresh look at the Berry speed camera.

“I wonder whether this is a revenue-raising camera,” Mr Ward said.

“Given the crash data and the amount of money being raised through fines, I think the minister needs to reconsider this camera.”

Mr Ward said the camera’s location was “a trap”, as the natural inclination for a driver heading downhill from a 50km/h zone to a 100km/h zone was to speed up slowly ahead of the speed zone change.

Others shared Mr Ward’s concern, as the Berry camera was listed as the most complained-about camera in the Illawarra and South Coast region.

The state government has already taken action to switch off speed cameras along Bolong Road in Shoalhaven Heads, and on the Princes Highway in Nowra and Broughton, north of Berry, claiming they were among 38 identified in an Auditor-General’s report finding some speed cameras had not managed to reduce the number of crashes.

However while Auditor General Peter Archterstraat recommended retaining the 38 seemingly ineffective speed cameras in place because “crash analysis over a longer time period is needed before final decisions are made,” the state government decided to act immediately.

RTA chief executive Michael Bushby also argued for “a longer review period” in his response to the report’s recommendations, pointing out fixed speed cameras had cut the number of people killed or injured in NSW road crashes by 446 people over three years.

The request for a longer review period was rejected.

ROADS Minister Duncan Gay said removing and possibly relocating ineffective speed cameras fulfilled an election commitment.

“As promised, where cameras provide no road safety benefit, we will remove them,” Roads Minister Duncan Gay said on Wednesday.

“We want to make sure cameras are there for road safety, not as revenue raisers,” he said.

“For some camera locations, the number of crashes did not drop, so we need to be looking at other measures for these sites.

“This could include alternative treatments such as road safety upgrades at these locations.” Mr Gay said the report found most fixed speed cameras had a proven road safety benefit and contributed to a fall in fatality and injury rates.

“The audit found that at fixed speed camera locations, total crashes and injuries reduced by 26 per cent, and fatalities by 67 per cent, in the three years after installation.

“While this is encouraging, the audit also found that 38 of the existing 141 fixed speed camera locations had not reduced crashes,” Mr Gay said.

“There has been community concern that some cameras are purely revenue raisers and this audit has allowed us to identify them and ensure they are removed.

“We want cameras to have a positive safety impact and not be a cash cow.”

The review called on the RTA to publish annual data for each speed camera, and review the types of cameras used.

The NRMA has welcomed the move to shut down some speed cameras.

“The auditor’s report actually picks up on a number of things the NRMA has been calling for for a long time,” said the organisation’s motoring and services president, Wendy Machin.

“We believe the government has to act in good faith. They said that any cameras that weren’t contributing to safety should not be used.

“They’re going to do that and I think that’s the right thing to do and I think the public would agree with that,” she said.