UK police admit speed cameras haven't reduced deaths

[Matra et Alpine]

Speed camera rules 'to be eased'

Police would be allowed to put speed cameras on sections of road where there have been no crashes, under a planned change to rules on their use.
The new rules, reported in the Times newspaper, would see the maximum distance of mobile camera sites extended from 5km to 20km.

Police chiefs said existing rules only let cameras be used after people were killed or injured.

But critics claim the cameras are merely used for revenue-raising.

Government figures show there were more than 3,500 deaths on Britain's roads in 2003, up from 3,431 in the previous year.

At the same time the number of speed camera fines reached two million.

Police will still have to show a stretch of road has a history of casualties under the draft changes.

But they will no longer only be allowed to place cameras in the immediate area where the accidents have taken place.

Richard Brunstrom, head of road policing for the Association of Chief Police Officers, told the Times: "We have a particular problem with motorcyclists slowing down for the cameras but then speeding up and dying on the next corner."

"We need to keep people's speed down along the whole stretch of road."

He acknowledged the death rate on British roads had not been cut despite there being around 6,000 cameras already in use.

"We have got cameras at almost all the identifiable casualty hotspots and yet deaths haven't gone down because they are happening elsewhere."

The RAC Foundation said speed camera rules should be more flexible, but that police should also look into other road safety measures.


matra et Alpine editorial comment :

But they wont, with 2,000,000 fines of a minimum 60 pounds each that's over $200Million into the governments hands !! PER YEAR !!

We were told that speed cameras were all about saving lives, clearly they don't. So instead of coming up with other plans they put more cameras out. Try telling the public it's not revenue generation
And on the motorcyclist dying on corners BS, the biggest problem happening in England at the moment is road signs warning on bad corners and drain covers being removed. Bothe are being stolen for scrap value. Also many road signs in the country are being overgrown with trees/hedges and can't be seen. But fixing those woudl need better policing of thieves and better maintenance of roads. Both COST money. Camera MAKES money. Which do they chose ???? B******S

[IBrake4Rainbows]

Well DUH!

It's a cheap, easy target just to blame the motorist, claiming that driving is not a right but a privelage, and so they can get away with making people feel guilty while raking in the cash.

Still, i guess they have to deal to the lowest common denominator. And by adding speed cameras they are not letting Darwin's theory progress. All the idiots will kill themselves somehow, and the smart people will be left with a nice gene pool.

Speed Cameras are a Joke. We're all speeding anyway, it's the Earths fault for spinning so fast.....

[UK CARS]

I prefer the ones that dont take the pictures.......(the ones that only show your speed, and show up in red digits)
Theres one on a wide road that doesnt get busy at all, Once again put in a silly place. The idea of these types is just to get the drivers aware of there speed. Me and my Dad compete to get the highest speed down the road, ive got 83mph hes got 79mph!!! Ecept the only difference is that we dont do it all night and put other people lives in danger, we make sure no ones about when were coming home from somewhere, And we do it in normal cars (not modded) Only when we hapern to be driving down there. Im sure Many of you lot do that .

My veiw on the speed cameras are that they do save some lives just not enough, The goverment are money making scamsters...but this money goes towards repairing roads, new motorways etc....so in a way im happy using a laser.

[Coventrysucks]

Speed cameras are a disgrace, and anyone who supports their usage is not worthy to use oxygen.

They DO NOT Account for conditions.
It might be a bright, clear, sunny day, with no traffic. 35mph might be against the law, but it isn't really putting anyones live in danger is it? But, uh-oh, you've got points! And we all know points mean prizes, that'll be £60 please!

However, it might be torrential rain, with fairly heavy traffic. Conditions in which it would be dangerous to drive at even 30mph. No flash, no points, no fine, but no regard for the other road users in danger!

They DO NOT Catch real criminals.
Driving without insurance? 30mph - not caught
Driving whilst drunk? 30mph - not caught
Driving under the influence of drugs? - not caught
Driving on the wrong side of the road? not caught
Kidnapping somebody? Just drive at 30mph - not caught
Driving a un-roadworthy vehicle? - not caught

Honest, otherwise law abiding citizen, who takes their eyes off the speedo for a few seconds, - caught, fined, criminalised.

They DO NOT follow accepted rules regarding criminal precedings.
Gulity untill proven innocent.
It might be a "clone" i.e. a car similar to yours, upon which someone has put a copy of your registration number that got flashed, but you are gulity, and you are responsible for proving this.
You might have a genuine reason for speeding - an emergency vehicle needed to pass, but it was not safe to do so, so you sped up so as to not hold it up - that isn't good enough - points + fine.
Someone may have been trying to kill you in a road rage incedent - points + fine.

And when you do have the audacity to challenge the decision of an unthinking, uneducated camera in court, if you don't clear yourself, they double the fine! So as you can imagine, not many people try to contest the original charge, even if they are innocent.

They DO NOT save lives!
Lets all drive round with our eyes glued to the speedometer, lest we speed!
As we all know that "speed kills" there is no need to look at the road, just your speedo.

People see a speed camera, slow down, pass it, then speed up again. So unless the danger spot really is the few meters that the camera covers, that strech of road isn't any safer.
And if it is a Talivan (unmarked van with a mobile speed camera inside) people tend to spot it and stand on the brakes, which is more dangerous than doing a few mph over the limit. And the great part is, it might not even be a Talivan. As they are commonly unmarked, any white van parked at the side of the road can spark such exciting antics!

As has been proven time and again, the decades of steady reduction in road fatalities since the 1930s has STOPPED and REVERSED since Trafpols where replaced by scameras.

It is picking on an easy target. Ordinary citizens who made a momentary lapse are the target. People who are intimidated into paying the fines because they were driving so "dangerously" at 35mph.

Get plod back onto the streets!

[ZerK]

I heard something on Beeb News 24 about some copper saying that speed cameras were justifiable as around 100 lives had been saved so far. Considering the money they've put into the scheme (and taken out of motorist's pockets) 100 isn't really that many. I know you shouldn't put a price on someone's life, but seriously...

Speed cameras. Pah. Burn 'em all. And give granny her 100 pound back for going 32 in a 30 zone.

[Matra et Alpine]

My veiw on the speed cameras are that they do save some lives just not enough, The goverment are money making scamsters...but this money goes towards repairing roads, new motorways etc....so in a way im happy using a laser.

Oh the naivety of youth

Over 50% goes to the scum who own the private companies who run them.
Then the police are given a 'cut' and the rest goes into "general" government funds.
NONE of it is ring-fenced for road repairs etc - and CLEARLY not motorways given the new toll section of the M6

Wouldn't be so bad if say 90% of it went to the local area for improvements, but it just DOESN'T.

[Matra et Alpine]

I heard something on Beeb News 24 about some copper saying that speed cameras were justifiable as around 100 lives had been saved so far. Considering the money they've put into the scheme (and taken out of motorist's pockets) 100 isn't really that many. I know you shouldn't put a price on someone's life, but seriously...

Watch out.
Some of the claims for camera saving lives was shown up to have included road changes for safety. So no one knows if it was the camera or the changes to the road layout, markings etc. Course the gov claim it for the camera

[Mustang]

OK i can see that there might be a few places that you could use a speed camera for good use but this is just wrong

[Matra et Alpine]

OK i can see that there might be a few places that you could use a speed camera for good use but this is just wrong

Bad photoshoo job.

Check out the shadow of the camera - 2 times higher than the car and same length of shadow oops

[Mustang]

Bad photoshoo job.

Check out the shadow of the camera - 2 times higher than the car and same length of shadow oops

arrr foiled every time

wasnt me that did it though

[UK CARS]

Speed cameras are a disgrace, and anyone who supports their usage is not worthy to use oxygen.

If that comment was intended for me, Well believe me i hate speed cameras as much as anyone....i was only saying what i thought, which was that a percentage of money goes to road repairs etc, which matra pointed out that i was wrong. As all of you i know they dont save anywhere near enough lives as planned, i dont even think ther goverment wanted to save lives more than what they get......
Wasnt their an idea about 6 months about painting all speed cameras bright orange across the Uk.....Not that thats going to slow speeders down either (you either see it or you dont) whens that going to happern? More BULLcrap, from ther goverment.....they need to stop promising and save more lives!

[Matra et Alpine]

Wasnt their an idea about 6 months about painting all speed cameras bright orange across the Uk.....Not that thats going to slow speeders down either (you either see it or you dont) whens that going to happern?

that happened, all GATSOs shoudl now be clearly marked in yellow/blacnk stripes.
The theory was that if they were at black spots then why wasn't the goverment doing anything constructive to PREVENT accidents like making folks KNOW it's a danger area. So they all got clearly marked so now you know it's a dangerous stretch of road ( well for your wallet at least !! )
Personally even when they were grey, anyone missing them isn't paying enough attention to the road and other users [ With the exception of the one on the way in to Edinburgh which is now obscured by branches until you are IN the speed detection zone. But again, those white lines on the road should have warned an observant driver anyway ]

[crisis]

A recent current affairs show, the type of which I have no time for generally, had a piece on Cops getting off of speeding fines. Basically their superiors wrote letters to the fine nazi and asked for them to be given a warning. The jounalist questioned some senior cop and aske why someone was let off for travelling at 20kmh faster than the prescribed speed. Astoundingly he said that the speed was not neccessarily dangerous and it depended on other conditions at the time. Seems cops are the only ones qualified to make that call though.