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Smile for the camera
Page 26
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Speed cameras are unlikely to survive cuts in funding for road safety. But have they deterred drivers from speeding or just been a means of raising revenue? CM's reader panel. gives its verdict.
sti
Words: Pat Hagan
In a league table of all-time least popular government policies, its fair to say speed cameras would probably be right up there with the poll tax, congestion charges and the invasion of Iraq.
So there will be few tears shed at the news that the coalition government is ending funding for new fixed speed cameras — if councils want new ones they must pay for them.
However, with local councils in England seeing a drastic reduction in the central funding they receive for road safety — from an annual £95m to just £57m — some areas have already started to switch off cameras to save cash.
Since any money raised through speeding fines goes straight to the Treasury rather than back to local authorities, there is little incentive to keep them on.
One of the first councils to take the plunge was Oxfordshire, where all 72 speed cameras were turned off in early August.
The big question is: will the removal of cameras lead to an immediate increase in speeding and, consequently, accidents?
Road safety organisation Brake has already voiced its concerns and fears that accident rates could rise.
Although the Oxfordshire cameras are no longer being used to penalise drivers, for the time being at least, they are still recording the speeds of passing vehicles.
Do cameras improve road safety? In the immediate aftermath of the big switch off, speeding in Oxfordshire soared by 88%, as drivers took advantage of their new-found freedom.
So is this a sign that cameras really did improve road safety, or does CM's Operator Panel think their demise is long overdue?
Most panel members concede that, used appropriately at known accident blackspots, near schools and at busy junctions, cameras can have a beneficial effect.
But their apparently indiscriminate use on relatively safe dual-carriageways, on empty roads in the middle of the night and where speed limit signs are barely visible, has tainted their image and done nothing to quell the suspicion that what started as a major roadsafety initiative back in the early nineties ended up as nothing more than a money-raising exercise for central government. •