Failed to extend use of point-to-point speed cameras: Roads Minister Duncan Gay. Credit:Edwina Pickles They were introduced in 2010 by the then Labor government, but only for heavy vehicles. Despite signing the strategy – and a recommendation by the NSW Staysafe Committee in 2013 that the transport department consider extending their use to cars and other light vehicles – Roads Minister Duncan Gay has failed to do so. The issue has resurfaced ahead of a summit of roads ministers in Perth on Thursday to be attended by Mr Gay and at which federal roads minister Darren Chester has nominated the national road toll as a priority for discussion. On Wednesday, Mr Gay – a senior Nationals MP – said not introducing point-to-point speed cameras for cars and light vehicles "is an election commitment and will not change".

The technology "is and will continue to be used exclusively for heavy vehicles because the program has shown to be effective for long-haul trips up and down the main highways", he said. He argued the government's speed camera and police enforcement strategy for light vehicles is working and fatalities have decreased 90 per cent at fixed-speed camera locations. However, a spokeswoman for Mr Chester, when asked if the federal minister would like to see NSW extend its point-to-point cameras to cars, told Fairfax Media: "Road safety is on the agenda and the minister intends to discuss this issue at the [Thursday] meeting." Existing point-to-point systems are in place and used for all vehicles in Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT and a trial has begun in Western Australia. As of Tuesday, 332 people had died on NSW roads so far in 2016 – 42 more people than at the same time last year. The three-year average for road deaths at this time of year is 275.

Of those killed on the road this year, 220 died in crashes in country areas – an 18 per cent increase on the same time last year. Dr John Crozier, chairman of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons National Trauma Committee, said Mr Gay should extend point-to-point cameras to cars due to "a rising death and serious injury rate, particularly concerning this last 12 months". "As a vascular and trauma surgeons we do see in our day-to-day work the consequence of serious injury on our roads," he said. "Every state with point-to-point cameras uses them in the way they had been intended except NSW. It's just a case of turning a switch on." Professor Max Cameron, from the Monash University Accident Research Centre, noted that the NSW system "could be turned on tomorrow and prosecute cars for speeding. There's no rational explanation for it."

Professor Cameron suggested the inaction could be political, noting that conservative governments in particular are reluctant "to threaten rural motorists" with the technology. In a letter to Premier Mike Baird last month, copied to Mr Gay, the Australian Trucking Association urged them to consider applying the point-to-point regime to all vehicles. The chairman of the Pedestrian Council, Harold Scruby, who has championed the push to extend use of the cameras for cars, criticised Mr Gay's inaction. A freedom of information request by Mr Scruby in 2011 revealed that almost 100,000 drivers were detected speeding by point-to-point cameras in NSW in nine months in 2010, but none was penalised due to the trucks-only application. "Evidence from his own office has revealed 42 per cent of deaths are speed-related, yet he steadfastly refuses, without reason, to flick a switch which will save countless lives and limbs," Mr Scruby said.

A spokesman for the NRMA said the organisation's current policy was to support the government's policy of only monitoring heavy vehicles and favoured increased highway patrols to reduce speeding. Loading "It's around getting the balance right," he said. "When it comes to road safety, our view is that changes to the system need to be based on evidence. We are always open to anything that saves lives."