Tasmania took in $3.2 million in speed camera fines over year

Scott Tilyard said the revenue generated by traffic fines is put into the government's consolidated revenue coffers and some of it comes back to be spent on measures aimed at saving lives on the road.

"The revenue generated through speed cameras and other forms of electronic traffic enforcement is fairy substantial, and obviously that revenue is put back into road safety, but not directly," Mr Tilyard said.

"I'd like to see at least a portion of that hypothecated directly into improving road safety."

Mr Tilyard said several other Australian states ringfence some or all of their fine revenue for use in road safety efforts, and has said the state government should examine doing the same in Tasmania.

Infrastructure and Transport Minister Michael Ferguson said the government had invested heavily in road safety, spending $75 million over five years on its Road Safety Action Plan.

It also spent $9.3 million to introduce the state's speed cameras.

Between September 2022 and August, the new mobile devices caught more than 35,000 drivers breaking the law.

"Revenue generated via infringements from motorists caught doing the wrong thing on our roads and risking lives is allocated to fund government services such as health, education and road safety measures that benefit everyone," Mr Ferguson said.

He did not provide any comment about earmarking speed camera revenue for road safety initiatives.

Mr Tilyard's call came after a "heart-breaking" year on the road in Tasmania, with 51 people losing their lives in 2022 - 51 per cent above the five-year average.

This year is on track for a much better result, with just 21 road fatalities recorded up until August 31, compared with 38 for the same point of 2022.

But the figures also revealed that there has been a lift in people seriously injured on the road so far - 198 as of August 24, compared to 167 at the same point of 2022.

Mr Tilyard said the lift in the rate of serious injuries so far this year was alarming, because serious injuries are crashes that could have been a fatality.

The Road Safety Advisory Council is the body tasked with running campaigns to reduce the death toll on Tassie's roads.

Its ad campaigns in recent years have attempted to draw the community's awareness to the danger of speeding, drink driving, and most recently, distractions such as mobile phone usage on the road.

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