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Updated: 20/09/2012 17:52 | By motoringresearch.com
Speed cameras making a comeback
Thought the inexorable march of the speed camera was on the wane? Think again.
The rising number of motorists avoiding points by attending a speed awareness course is funding more sophisticated new digital cameras, which are set to replace the current generation of ageing film-based cameras.
Speed Cameras: the rise, fall… and rise again?
Speed cameras are 20 years old today
The Telegraph reports that more than half of the country’s safety camera partnerships are busy installing sophisticated digital cameras – which never run out of film and cost less to maintain – with the number of such devices expected to rise by nearly 50 per cent over the next 12 months.
Digital cameras can send images of offending cars automatically to a control centre, giving a better ‘hit rate’ than film-based units, which involve a more labour-intensive process before a ticket is issued.
The demise of that yellow peril on a pole, the Gatso, was widely reported when the Coalition government to power and declared an end to war on motorists.
After the flow of central government funding for speed cameras was halted, many local authorities switched off their speed cameras and disbanded their safety camera partnerships altogether.
That trend is reversing now, thanks to the Police and camera partnerships being allowed to bank the fees charged to motorists attending speed awareness courses – which range from £70 to £97.
Speed awareness courses are offered by 41 Police forces across the country to drivers within a tolerance zone of 10 per cent plus 9mph over the posted speed limit.
Swindon, the first town to switch off all of its cameras in 2009, reported a fall in fatalities and serious injuries at its camera sites in the year following the switch off – whilst some speed camera sites have seen a rise in accidents since being installed.
“This is entirely predictable. The fact of the matter is the road safety industry, which includes the manufacturers of the devices and the partnerships, have a vested interest,” Keith Peat, ABD spokesman and former traffic police officer told the Telegraph.
Meanwhile, the Chair of ACPO’s National Roads Policing Forum, Suzette Davenport told the paper:
“Speed cameras are put in place to deter drivers from speeding and catch those who do. Drivers who are found breaking the law could be prosecuted and incur a criminal record,”
“Using technology to make the roads safer for all drivers is an excellent example of police moving with the times.”
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18Comments
15/09/2012 18:01
Another point id like to make, the new ones may be digital but i bet you they burn just as well as the old ones :)
18/09/2012 13:28
These may catch people doing a few miles an hour over the speed limit, but they don`t catch the dangerous driver, the lunatic who overtakes on double white lines, and close shaves and near misses that happen everyday on the roads, after 35 yrs as a class 1 HGV driver you see it all, once the cameras are in place local people will know were they are and simply just slow down for the camera and then speed up again.
These cameras are bloody dangerous as people will thunder past you, see a camera pull infront of you slam on the brakes inches in front of you and the proceed to drive at 10 MPH under what the speed limit is, for example M4 Port Talbot westbound removed for this reason alone. this one camera caused hundreds of accidents.
Scrap dealers motorists have a little job for you!
15/09/2012 18:00
ACPO’s National Roads Policing Forum, Suzette Davenport told the paper:
“Speed cameras are put in place to deter drivers from speeding and catch those who do" Here's a very stupid woman who believe her own hype. Yes love and the sky is pink and pigs can fly. we all know they are there to generate revenue and employ morons who could find a job anywhere else.
14/09/2012 06:18
This quote from the article says it all really: "...
Swindon, the first town to switch off all of its cameras in 2009, reported a fall in fatalities and serious injuries at its camera sites in the year following the switch off – whilst some speed camera sites have seen a rise in accidents since being installed.
“This is entirely predictable. The fact of the matter is the road safety industry, which includes the manufacturers of the devices and the partnerships, have a vested interest,” Keith Peat, ABD spokesman and former traffic police officer told the Telegraph..."
13/09/2012 15:50
why do people say that speed cameras are there to protect road users ? when this is simply not the case ! they are there only as a source of revenue, all other reasons are rubbish !!! and how many times have we seen the police flying past us with no lights an no sirens on ???? yet nobody stops them , an nobody gives them points !!! if they want to be fair ? then everytime a so called police trained driver is caught speeding then treat them the same as you would any other motorist who is caught breaking the speed limit ? it seems though because of there advanced trainig that this makes them unaffected by human error ? which is simply not the case !!! in short it does not matter how much driver training they recieve you will never be able to factor out human error !
13/09/2012 15:49
why do people say that speed cameras are there to protect road users ? when this is simply not the case ! they are there only as a source of revenue, all other reasons are rubbish !!! and how many times have we seen the police flying past us with no lights an no sirens on ???? yet nobody stops them , an nobody gives them points !!! if they want to be fair ? then everytime a so called police trained driver is caught speeding then treat them the same as you would any other motorist who is caught breaking the speed limit ? it seems though because of there advanced trainig that this makes them unaffected by human error ? which is simply not the case !!! in short it does not matter how much driver training they recieve you will never be able to factor out human error !!!!
13/09/2012 16:30
it is said by insurance companies, that most accidents happen a short distance from where people live.
All local people know, the camera will be there.. so, should never see that terrible flash.
the only people who will get to see the flash are NOT local..
therefore its a complete contradiction, its about safety, SO, please, lets be clear its about making money off unsuspecting drivers who don't know the camera is there.
its not fair, it really is not fair...
19/09/2012 15:34
Where I live the council has recently installed a series of ramps(small one's whereby buses can straddle them) but at a lights controlled crossing they installed a very high ramp with a width of the crossing(approx 3metres) and the first casualty was a police car who hit the ramp took off and upon re-entry totalled the front end suspension etc, oh! happy days.
p.s. this is outside a junior school, so who says police are better drivers? I'll believe it when i see it.
19/09/2012 13:36
iv never read a more irrelevant or out of touch article in my life, when did anyone ever say they were depleting? they have always been on the rise , and its not a comeback at all as all speed cameras in UK have been there for years and will continue to, they've not been taken away or put back, and for changing from film to digital are you stuck in 2005 ? that's old news they have been changing them from film to digital since 2005 if not earlier and most will be done by now, EVERY EDUCATED PERSON WITH A BRAIN KNOWS THAT SPEED CAMERAS ARE SOLELY PUT UP TO CREATE REVENUE AND ARE DEFINITELY NOT PUT UP FOR SAFETY, LOOK INTO THE FIGURE AND YOU WILL BE ALARMED TO SEE HOW MUCH HAS BEEN MADE FROM CAMERAS, AFTER SEEING HOW MUCH MONEY THEY BRING IN THERE'S NO GOING BACK THEY CANT IGNORE THAT, ITS ALSO ANOTHER FORM OF CONTROLLING WHICH WE KNOW THE GOVERNMENT LOVE
17/09/2012 09:26
Does anyone actually believe anything the police or the government say any more? They are lazy, arrogant,crooked and time and time again their actions remove any respect we had for them. The UK has among the world's safest roads, evidence shows that speed cameras do not work and alienate the public but where money is concerned........ !!
14/09/2012 00:24
Corruption is the root of this evil. Just witness the sheer waste in monstrous gantries to house them on motorways. So-called average speed cameras, the sheer environmental impact of the scheme; would anyone spend their own money in that way? Most of the B and A roads remain unattended and when will we see proper cycle routes away from a public route as they do on the continent?
19/09/2012 14:00
“Speed cameras are put in place to deter drivers from speeding and catch those who do. Drivers who are found breaking the law could be prosecuted and incur a criminal record,”
Is speeding a criminal offence? I'm not sure that is correct! Where in the spectrum of motoring offences does criminality come into it - parking? - no MOT?
I don't believe that even driving without insurance is a criminal offence.
20/09/2012 10:47
I've posted this most of before but it needs repeating.
These cameras may catch people breaking the law by speeding but they don't catch the drivers who cause the serious and fatal crashes (commonly known as KSIs).
I spent two years researching the effects of speed cameras and found absolutely no evidence that they made the roads any safer. At that time the local safety camera partnership (now disbanded) was claiming over 40% reduction in KSIs but their figures were not only nonsense but failed to reflect other trends like a 60% overall increase in road fatalities one year. According the records held by the local police (STATS19) speed over the posted limits was not, and never had been, a major factor in serious crashes. In fact on one very busy stretch of road out of 108 reported crashes just 3 had been attributed to breaking the 40mph in force there and two of those also involved drink driving, something speed cameras cannot detect. That data still didn't stop them sticking speed cameras on the road. In fact the tactics employed to put cameras on busy, but relatively safe, roads had to be seen to be believed. The location of one fatal accident was even mysteriously moved 200 metres to put it inside a proposed camera route.
Speed cameras are very good at doing two things - catching drivers who obviously pay so little attention to the road ahead they can't see the big yellow boxes by the side of it and making money. They make money not just for the cameras operators and suppliers but for the dozens of ex-coppers who are now supplementing their pensions by running self-styled 'speed awareness courses'. The one thing speed cameras don't do is make the roads any safer and the only way to do that is to return to good old-fashioned roads policing.
19/09/2012 23:10
I agree, these are nothing but a cash cows for councils and government. In our village, were there are junior schools, churches, old peoples homes etc. not one camera. Yet outside the village on the bypass there are TWO located were there is no danger at all but just after the 60 zone reduces to 40 - WHAT A SURPRISE!!
19/09/2012 14:11
In Spain they have a camera system that is truly designed to control speed and road safety. If you are exceeding the speed limit as you go past a sensor, a set of traffic lights go to red and stop everyone! If you jump the red light you get a massive fine.
This means that there truly is a "speed calming" and road safety system in place and not a "cash cow" as there is with our current system in the UK.
If government and police were truly interested in "speed calming" and road safety", then this is the system that they would have introduced!
14/09/2012 16:32
WHATS THE POINT JUST BUILD LESS POWERFUL CARS AND INCREASE THE MINIMUM AGE FOR DRIVING CARS AND TAKE THE ROAD HUMPS OFF THE ROAD IT JUST DAMAGES THE SUSPENSION HAVE SEEN MANY CARS OVER THEM LIKE HORSES SHOWJUMPING THATS PAINFUL
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