Traffic infringements across the ACT soared by 53 per cent last year despite an enormous fall in traffic volumes for two-thirds of the year during coronavirus restrictions.
ACT Police issued a total of 13,094 traffic infringement notices in 2020, up from 8511 the year before.
Speeding infringements also saw a huge spike, up 53.7 per cent to 6175 for the year.
Among the speeding offenders were an unusually high proportion of those caught at 45km/h or more over the limit, which was a constant source of frustration for Canberra's traffic police, who described the speedsters as "treating the roads like their own private racetrack".
The published data revealed persistent poor attitudes in the ACT toward responsible driving, with police steadily ramping up enforcement activity despite the less crowded roads.
In a curious twist, during the height of coronavirus restrictions last year when many ACT employees worked from home and many pubs, clubs and restaurants were either shut or operating under very tough restrictions, drivers continued to drink and drive in much the same numbers as before.
Comparative data posted by ACT police revealed there were 895 drink-drivers charged in 2020, just 11 less than for the non-COVID-affected 2019. This compared with 1118 drivers charged with drink-driving in 2018 and 1081 in 2017.
Detective Inspector Donna Hofmeier said the data highlighted the effort and vigilance of police during the COVID period.
"I think that this data shows that just because the roads were less crowded, we maintained our policing effort all the way through and we will continue to do so," Inspector Hofmeier explained.
"To see these sort of numbers is both concerning and disappointing. People just aren't getting the drink-driving message."
Just as surprising, at a time when traffic volumes decreased enormously for around eight months of last year, the number of crashes resulting in injury fell by only 4.5 per cent, compared with the full 12 months of 2019.
There were 418 non-fatal crashes across the ACT last year,and seven fatalities. This compared with 438 and five fatalities for 2019.
One of the most alarming statistics was the number of unlicensed drivers - those who had never held a licence before - who decided to use the uncrowded roads last year and were subsequently apprehended by police.
There was a 36 per cent increase in unlicensed drivers to 161, up from 103 in 2019.
In June last year, police stopped 23 unlicensed drivers, the highest monthly total in four years.
The number of cautions issued by police across all traffic offences also skyrocketed during 2020, up by 64 per cent on the previous year. Cautions were usually issued for minor traffic offences, but were recorded in case of repeated behaviour.
Over the past three years, speeding tickets usually averaged around 330 a month but rocketed up to an average of 514 a month last year.
In July last year alone, 733 speeding infringements were issued, another record monthly high for the ACT. July led into four months of intense speed monitoring by police in which 2387 speeding fines were handed out.
All fines from traffic infringements - including static and point-to-point traffic cameras - were budgeted to produce $32.4 million in revenue in 2019-20 for the ACT government, according to estimates. However, the huge rise in police-issued fines was likely to generate an extra boost in revenue given an unexpectedly large proportion those police caught were high-speed offenders.
While the latest ACT infringement data showed police were maintaining pressure on road behaviour through enforcement, the Australian Automobile Association said from a national perspective, the federal government-led road safety strategy had failed.
The AAA said the 2020 national road toll was down by 6.7 per cent compared to the previous year, mostly attributed to greatly reduced traffic volumes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the national strategy's key targets to reduce road deaths and serious injuries by at least 30 per cent by the end of 2020 were not met.
