Speeding is the single most significant contributor to road fatalities and serious injuries in NSW. Speeding includes both excess speed (exceeding the speed limit) and inappropriate speed (travelling faster than reasonable for the prevailing conditions).

In 2021, 107 people were killed and 2,083 injured (including 800 seriously injured) in NSW in crashes where speeding was a contributing factor. Crashes which involved speeding represented 41% of fatal crashes and 19% of all casualty crashes. While the road toll has been reducing overall in recent decades, the proportion of speed-related fatal crashes has remained around 40% of total fatal crashes each year.

Attitudinal research indicates that there is a high level of community acceptance that speed is a contributor to the NSW road toll, yet most drivers do not consider speeding as the key contributor to the road toll, automatically dangerous or an immediate risk to their personal safety. There is an underlying attitude that driving 1-10km/h over the limit is not unsafe and is socially acceptable, with most drivers admitting to speeding on a regular basis.

The threat of enforcement is identified by most drivers as the largest modifier of their speeding behaviour. The strongest effects on positive behavioural change and casualty crash reductions in relation to speeding occur when targeted enforcement programs are accompanied by extensive public education and high awareness of mobile speed camera enforcement. For this reason, Transport uses a coordinated package of speed enforcement initiatives in combination with advertising campaigns, as this is a proven strategy for ensuring compliance with speed limits.

Speed is considered to be an issue within Georges River LGA as it is the leading contributing factor to crashes and casualties within the LGA for the past 5 year (2016-2020). Speeding as a contributing factor has risen since 2018 (7%), 2019 (11%) and in 2020 (10%). The 5-year average for this being (9%) indicating since 2019 this has been higher than the average indicating the issue is on the rise again within the LGA. The increase showing that attention is needed to target local roads and the speed limits as well as high pedestrian areas and school areas.

The NSW Automated Enforcement Strategy for road safety (the Strategy) was published in September 2022 and provides the overarching framework outlining how automated enforcement programs are managed in NSW. The strategy provides the framework for the NSW speed camera program that currently consists of fixed-digital, mobile, average, and red-light speed camera programs.