Reece Whitby considers radical new rewards system for good drivers under road safety overhaul

WA drivers with a clean record caught speeding at low levels would not be fined under a radical overhaul of road safety laws being considered by the State Government. With 2025 one of the worst years in decades for road fatalities, the government says it’s now looking outside the box to find new ways to save lives — including rewarding drivers who do the right thing. One idea being worked up is not fining drivers caught speeding a few kilometres over the speed limit — if they have had no previous speeding offences for two to three years. Instead, they would be issued a caution. The move comes amid an $80 million spend on road safety measures to be announced this week as part of the State Budget mid-year review, including the purchase of more speed cameras. “Not only do we want to recognise drivers who consistently do the right thing in this review, we also want to encourage the frequent high-harm drivers to change their behaviour on our roads,” Police Minister Reece Whitby said. Mr Whitby said the government was also spending $5m on investigating tougher measures for bad and repeat offenders. With just over two weeks until the end of this year, WA has reached last year’s horror statistic of 176 deaths on our roads — the worst in nine years. This is despite several new measures to save lives, including the introduction of new AI safety cameras. The fixed and trailer-mounted technology was introduced on October 8 and almost 32,000 infringements were issued in the first four weeks. The new spending on cameras will include six safety camera trailers, four pairs of fixed point-to-point cameras, 32 near-miss cameras which can detect near collisions between vehicles, people riding or walking and/or equipment and 100 “smiley face” electronic warning signs. Another $27m has also been allocated for additional road safety advertising, community education and public awareness campaigns plus another $25m on road and bridge upgrades. “We’ve tragically lost too many lives on our roads this year and that’s exactly why we’re investing heavily in new safety measures and looking at smarter ways to encourage drivers to try to do the right thing,” Mr Whitby said “This package strengthens enforcement against high-harm drivers while also looking at more flexible approaches including caution notices for drivers who are low risk.” Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said the government was committed to improving safety. “This $80m package demonstrates our government’s strong commitment to improving safety for every Western Australian road user,” she said. ”This $25m boost for road safety upgrades is on top of the more than $1 billion we’ve already invested through our Regional Road Safety Program which is delivering vital road safety improvements across our State. “This comprehensive funding package will deliver further upgrades to our roads, improve enforcement and raise greater awareness to help save lives and ensure people reach their destinations safely.”