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Victoria's police minister caught speeding

Calls for a review on the performance of fixed and mobile speed cameras

Just days after his swearing-in as Victoria's police minister, Peter Ryan has been clocked speeding.

As he spruiked an audit of the speed and red-light cameras on Monday, Ryan revealed he was caught speeding in a street near the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Parkville.

He says it is not something that happens often and he wants to be upfront with people about the breach.

"I was picked up at, I think it said 63km/h on the fine that I have received," he told reporters on Monday.

"So I was going too fast, I've got to slow down.

"It's something that doesn't happen with regularity but I highlight it because I do want to be completely transparent about this."

Ryan has asked Auditor-General Des Pearson to review the performance of fixed and mobile speed cameras.

The weekly locations of mobile cameras will soon be available on a website, which has sparked heated debate.

Monash University Accident Research Centre Professor Max Cameron says revealing mobile speed camera locations will lead to more road deaths.

"We did some studies some years ago where we asked Victoria Police to move the mobile cameras around, to increase their activity in some police districts and they did that by reducing the speed cameras in other police districts," he told AAP.

"We found fatal crashes went up in those areas where they reduced the cameras."

Prof Cameron said the covert nature of mobile cameras in Victoria was unique among the states and effective in reducing fatal crashes.

"Every other state in Australia operates its mobile cameras quite conspicuously either with advanced warning signs or cars with police insignia on the side of them," he said.

"The idea that Victoria should go backwards because other states are still backward I think is a tragic idea."

Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews says publicising speed camera locations might be popular but risked sending the wrong message to the community.

The speed camera locations won't include times so motorists won't know exactly where and when they will be operating.

"This is not a populist move at all," Ryan said.

Part of Pearson's brief will be to examine whether speeding fines are too high.

Ryan said there was a misguided broad belief among Victorians the government used cameras purely for revenue raising.

"I don't believe that is right," he said.

He said issues he wanted Pearson to investigate included why many of Melbourne's worst intersections do not have cameras.

A road safety camera commissioner will be appointed to monitor the speed and red-light camera network at a cost of up to $1 million.

Ryan said he hoped he would receive a report from Pearson within weeks.

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: AAP, etwork, Leader, Leader Computers, Monash University, Monash University, Pearson, Royal Melbourne Hospital

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