The device - on the corner of Gillies and Sturt streets - was activated in October 2012 and now pings an average of one driver a day, raking in more than $10,000 a month.

The Australian Road Research Bureau says there is no doubt that fixed red-light and speed cameras make the streets safer.

"All the experiences we have seen in places where the cameras have been put in is that there are fewer people running red lights," ARRB National Leader of Transport Safety David McTiernan said.

"Technology has also moved on - and some cameras are such good quality that they don't need a flash to capture an image."

While Victoria uses a mix of technologies - including some cameras that look for unregistered cars - he said every red-light camera in New South Wales was also a speed camera.

"If someone speeds up to make a red light, they might end up travelling over the limit as a result."

So if a similar sized city like Bendigo has three cameras, shouldn't Ballarat have that too?

"The placement of fixed cameras is not really based on population," Mr McTiernan said.

"It's typically based on crash history - and the sort of crashes that have happened there - as well as things like whether a red light camera could have prevented that collision.

"The other thing that has to be considered is the geography of the intersection.

"When drivers approach it, are they getting adequately warned of what's up ahead?

"It gets back to does Ballarat have a crash problem that a red light camera could fix?"

One of the busiest red light and speed cameras in Victoria - raking in $2.8 million in the latest quarterly data - is a stone's throw from Heidelberg Primary School.

Mr McTiernan said schools and school speed zones made a huge impact on how often drivers were snapped.

"You're supposed to slow to 40kmh, but so many people forget," he said.

While Ballarat's sole camera made $35,229 between October and December - and another in Broadmeadows made more than $4 million - he said fines in Victoria were generally lower than in New South Wales.

He also encouraged people to use a website to nominate problem roads for fixed cameras.

Ballarat's only fixed red-light and speed camera has raked in a whopping $127,094 during 2021 - or enough to buy a pre-loved convertible Porsche.

That's up from $83,756 five years ago.

The figure also reflects the higher price of fines, with 276 vehicles detected in 2016 - only slightly lower than the 311 pinged last year.

But now the question is: If they make roads safer, does Ballarat need more?

The camera on the corner of Gillies and Sturt streets ranked 171st for revenue in the latest Victorian Justice Department figures (excluding camera systems such as CityLink).

Bendigo - which is similar in size - has three cameras, and two of those already capture more offences than the single Ballarat camera.

A device on High Street - a continuation of the Midland Highway - snapped 268 vehicles in the last three months of 2021; while one on the Loddon Valley Highway at Ironbark caught 177 - and another further out on the McIvor Highway at Strathdale recorded 98.

Mildura's fixed camera recorded 161, and Warrnambool's, 72.

Greater Geelong has more than a dozen fixed cameras - with the busiest pinging 810 drivers on the Princes Highway at Corio.

But that's nothing on Shepparton, where a sole camera sits on the main highway to Queensland.

Regional Victoria's busiest camera snapped 2228 drivers over the same period - or $619,096 worth of fines.

Statewide, there were 31,279 red light infringements between October and December - up 52 per cent on the quarter before.

Combine red light offences with speeding as well as unregistered cars - and Victoria's fixed cameras caught 113,698 offences over the same period.

That's worth a total of $36,765,988.

The state's busiest camera is on the Western Ring Road at Broadmeadows, and raked in $4,034,439 according to the latest quarterly data.

In fact the Western Ring Road system was way out in front - bringing in $17,373,509 from cameras in an arc between Broadmeadows and Ardeer.

Eastlink had the second-most lucrative camera system with just $2,535,364.

Lockdowns have also skewed fines across the state.

Ballarat's fixed camera clocked up $35,229 worth from 99 vehicles between October and December - but in the three months before that, it clocked up $31,920 - pinging 84 vehicles.

It was switched on in October 2012, after a delay of almost two years.

Meanwhile, the public can 'dob in' an intersection they believe needs a fixed camera by going to the Cameras Save Lives website.

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