Although Australian red light cameras are producing $8.294 million in net profit for the NSW government, that number is down sharply from five years ago thanks to engineering improvements made at intersections.

According to Police traffic services commander Superintendent John Hartley, half of the 166 sites where cameras are used had "roadworks or other engineering changes" that made the intersections safer. They no longer bother rotating cameras into these locations. Before these improvements were made, cameras brought in 30% more violations.

Supt Hartley confirmed that police officers no longer moved the camera units to a large number of sites because roadworks or other engineering changes had improved those sites' safety profile.