Victoria’s Average Speed Camera Bill Lapsed, So Fines Stay $261 to $1,046

• A bill to widen point-to-point average speed cameras in Victoria lapsed on 3 November 2026 at the end of the 60th Parliament, CarExpert reported, after it passed the Legislative Assembly and never reached a final vote in the Legislative Council.
• Speeding fines for a full licence stay on the 1 July 2026 schedule: $261 and 1 demerit point for under 10 km/h over, rising to $1,046 and a 12 month suspension for 45 km/h or more.
• Fixed and mobile cameras issued 239,816 speeding infringements in January to March 2026, and 185,955 of them were for under 10 km/h over the limit.

What the Lapsed Bill Would Have Changed on Your Commute

The Roads, Road Safety and Ports Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 is dead. Its first reading passed the Legislative Assembly on 1 April 2026, and the Assembly passed the bill on 5 May. The Legislative Council received it on 12 May and moved the second reading that day, but the vote that would have made it law never came. The Victorian legislation register records the bill as lapsed on 3 November 2026, the end of the 60th Parliament, ahead of the 28 November state election.

For a driver on a Victorian freeway or arterial road, nothing changes. Average speed enforcement stays on stretches with a single speed limit between two detection points, and the schedule that took effect on 1 July 2026 stays in force. Any government that wants wider average speed cameras after the election has to introduce a new bill in the new Parliament.

The bill would have changed where those cameras could run. Coverage of the lapse describes lifted restrictions on point-to-point enforcement, mobile average speed cameras with more flexibility over placement, checks across routes with different road names (which allows longer enforcement zones), and checks along a road where the limit moves, for example a freeway that drops from 100 km/h to 80 km/h and back to 100 km/h. Each change lengthens the stretch of road that one camera pair can police.

What a Speeding Fine Costs Victorian Drivers Now

Fines Victoria publishes the schedule for full licence holders, and every amount rose on 1 July 2026. Under 10 km/h over the limit costs $261 and 1 demerit point, up $7 from $254. Driving 10 km/h to 24 km/h over costs $418 and 3 demerit points, up $11 from $407.

A licence suspension applies from 25 km/h over, and also to a driver 20 km/h to 24 km/h over in a 110 km/h zone, who pays $418 and loses the licence for 3 months. The band for 25 km/h to 29 km/h over costs $575 (up $15) with a 3 month suspension, and 30 km/h to 34 km/h over costs $680 (up $19) with the same suspension. A driver 35 km/h to 39 km/h over pays $784 (up $21) and loses the licence for 6 months, as does a driver 40 km/h to 44 km/h over, who pays $889 (up $24). The top band, 45 km/h or more over, costs $1,046 (up $28) and a 12 month suspension. Demerit points stay valid for 3 years, and the limit before a suspension depends on the licence or learner permit held.

The Victorian Government says about 99 per cent of drivers passing its road safety cameras follow the road rules and are not fined. Other camera offences carry their own amounts: $523 and 3 demerit points for running a red light, $627 and 4 demerit points for using a phone, and $418 and 3 demerit points for a seatbelt worn incorrectly or not at all. An unregistered two axle vehicle on the road costs $1,046, the same as the top speeding amount, and 746 unregistered vehicles faced that fine in a Cup blitz.

How Average Speed Cameras Work Today and What the Bill Added

A point-to-point system records a vehicle at two fixed detection points and calculates the average speed between them from the distance and the time taken. The Victorian Government’s explanation of the bill says the aim is consistent driving over long distances, in place of slowing at specific, known camera locations.

Take an example. Two detection points sit 20 km apart on a road limited to 100 km/h. A driver who covers the 20 km in 11 minutes has averaged 109.1 km/h, just over 9 km/h above the limit, while the speedometer read 100 km/h at each camera. On the Fines Victoria schedule for speeding, a driver 9 km/h over sits in the $261 band with 1 demerit point.

The legal gap sits in the Road Safety Act 1986. The existing formula needs the same speed limit along the whole length of road between the two detection points, and enforcement runs in a number of Victorian locations on that basis. Clause 7 of the bill would have inserted new sections 65AB and 65AC, creating a new offence for driving above the calculated average limit between two detection points and setting formulas for roads with different limits. Where roadworks cut the limit temporarily, the reduced limit would have been disregarded in the calculation, and a driver over it could still be caught by a spot camera or by police.

Kat Theophanous, the Member for Northcote, made the case in the Assembly on 5 May 2026. “One of the most significant reforms is the expansion of point-to-point average speed enforcement. Speeding contributes to at least 30 per cent of road fatalities in Victoria and a quarter of serious injuries sustained by light vehicle occupants. That tells us very clearly that if we are serious about reducing road trauma we need a speed enforcement system that is modern, that is fair and that is capable of dealing with the road network as it actually exists. At the moment average speed enforcement can only operate where there is one speed limit between two detection points, but many roads do not work like that. A corridor can move through different speed environments and the law should be able to respond to that, so this bill will allow point-to-point average speed enforcement across a length of road with two or more different speed zones. It is a technical change, but the purpose is pretty straightforward: it encourages safer, steadier driving over high-risk corridors, and it strengthens the tools available to reduce road trauma.”

Coverage of the lapse describes two protections in the same package. Anyone found speeding through a zone would have had at least 2 km/h deducted from the calculated average before a fine was applied. If the deduction were exactly 2 km/h, a driver whose calculated average was 110 km/h in a 100 km/h zone, a $418 and 3 point result, would be assessed at 108 km/h and land in the $261 band with 1 point. The package also carried double-jeopardy rules meant to stop a driver facing two prosecutions over one offence, such as a Highway Patrol stop inside an average speed zone.

The bill covered more than cameras. Under the operator onus scheme a vehicle owner names the driver responsible for an offence, and the Act ties that nomination to “the person’s residential address or place of abode in Australia”. The bill would have accepted an overseas residential address as well, and it stretched the time limit for false nomination statements from 24 months to 3 years. That lapsed too.

Cameras, Revenue and Oversight

Money raised by camera fines goes into the Better Roads Victoria Trust Account. The mobile camera network runs about 15,900 hours a month, and Victoria Police has approved more than 2,000 locations for it.

Speeding infringements from fixed and mobile cameras totalled 239,816 in January to March 2026, down 7 per cent on October to December 2025 and down 16 per cent on January to March 2025. The busiest fixed site was the intersection of Warrigal Road and Batesford Road in Chadstone, with 5,213 infringements.

Nearly 78 per cent of those notices, 185,955 of the 239,816, were in the under 10 km/h band. At the $254 fine then in force, that band alone adds up to about $47.2 million in notices issued in three months, before reviews, withdrawals and unpaid fines. The 10 km/h to 24 km/h range added 50,749 notices, about $20.7 million at $407. Only 3,017 notices were for 25 km/h or more over the limit.

The network is changing anyway. In May 2026 the Victorian Government announced $28.3 million for smart enforcement traffic cameras, including portable trailers that can detect speeding, average speed, red-light, bus-lane and seatbelt offences, with number plate recognition. Phone and seatbelt detection, the other half of this camera story, is covered in a report on AI roadside cameras for phones and seatbelts, which explains what the new detection cameras look for. “Speeding, distraction and failing to wear a seatbelt continue to put lives at risk on our roads,” said Ros Spence, who was Minister for Roads and Road Safety at the time. “This investment delivers stronger enforcement technology to help target dangerous driving behaviour and improve safety.”

The trailers are made by Verra. Steven Crutchfield, senior vice president and managing director of Verra Mobility, said: “This flexibility creates an important psychological effect; drivers never know where a unit might be positioned,” and added: “Uncertainty changes behaviour. When drivers understand that speed limits could be enforced anywhere at any time, they are far more likely to slow down – not just at camera locations, but across their entire journey.” That is a vendor describing its own product. Mobile average speed work of that kind is what the lapsed bill would have opened up.

Independent oversight has changed too. Parliament repealed the Road Safety Camera Commissioner Act 2011 in March 2026, ending an independent office that had run from 2012, and the Department of Justice and Community Safety now handles oversight and complaints. When the state government answered a public sector review in December 2025, it said it would abolish the office in an effort to “streamline governance and reduce administrative burden in government”. Its release added: “The government will also cease entities that have achieved their original intent and are no longer required, with any residual functions transferring to other entities or departments,” as it cut 29 public entities and boards.

What to Do If a Camera Fines You

Start with the infringement notice and its due date. Fines Victoria runs the process, and the options are the same for a camera fine as for any other infringement.

Look at the evidence first. The “View the photo of your offence” tool on the Fines Victoria site shows the image behind the fine, so you can check the plate, the vehicle and the location. If someone else was driving, use the online form to nominate the responsible driver. If the fine looks wrong, request a review or ask for an official warning. Disputing the fine in court is also on the list.

If the amount is the problem, ask to pay by instalments or request a payment extension. Ignoring a fine costs more: after the due date a Penalty Reminder Notice adds a late fee, a Notice of Final Demand adds another fee, and an Enforcement Warrant can bring in the Sheriff and a driver or vehicle sanction. A fine for exceeding the limit by over 25 km/h is an excessive speed matter, and some options are not open, so read the notice before relying on a payment plan.

The fine sits beside the rest of the running bill. The ACCC’s latest petrol price findings put the five city average 62.9 cents a litre above February, with Melbourne up 59.4 cents, so a fine lands on top of dearer fuel.

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Reviewed by Preetam Gadekar