- at last
The Times this weekend revealed major changes in the way that speed cameras are managed and financed. According to The Times:
* Cash for cameras scheme ends* DfT wants fewer speeding tickets issued* Cameras to be installed only as 'a last resort'* Camera officials must work closely with Police and highways authority* Digital only cameras in motorway road works (SPECS)
Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign(www.safespeed.org.uk) said: "The DfT appears to be moving in the right direction, but it is far too little and far too late. TRL595 proved that fixed cameras were dangerous in motorway roadworks, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Speed cameras do not make our roads safer and never will. They are a dangerous distraction and must be scrapped. They are founded only on bad science, faulty logic, commercial interest and oversimplified thinking. We will not be able to restore road safety trends until the DfT finally wakes up to road safety reality."
"After 12 years of speed cameras there is still absolutely no scientific evidence to show that they have an overall beneficial effect on road safety.This is hardly surprising, because they make road safety worse."
"Safe Speed's tireless work, pointing out gross flaws in the figures and the assumptions, is really making a difference. No other road safety organisation is focused on the principles that gave us the safest roads in the world in the first place."
This year has seen a series of 'interesting' events in the camera programme:
* Partnership staffing freeze* Camera report severely delayed* Freeze on camera sites* Brunstrom goes from ACPO roads policing post* Hypothecation scrapped
About Safe Speed================
The Safe Speed road safety campaign is primarily the work of engineer-turned road safety analyst Paul Smith.
Since setting up Safe Speed in 2001, Paul Smith, 50, an advanced motorist and road safety enthusiast, and a professional engineer of 25 years UK experience, has carried out over 10,000 hours working on the campaign with well over 5,000 of those hours researching the overall effects of speed camera policy on UK road safety. In addition to those 10,000 hours, Paul has funded to campaign to the tune of £10,000.
We believe that this is more work in more detail than anything carried out by any other organisation. Paul's surprising conclusion is that overall speed cameras make our roads more dangerous. Paul has identified and reported a number of major flaws and false assumptions in the claims made for speed cameras, and the whole "speed kills" system of road safety.
The inescapable conclusion is that we should urgently return to the excellent road safety policies that gave us in the UK the safest roads in the World in the first place. Far from saving lives, speed cameras are a dangerous distraction.
Safe Speed does not campaign against speed limits or appropriate enforcement of motoring laws, but argues vigorously that automated speed enforcement is neither safe nor appropriate.
Safe Speed is very slimly funded by voluntary contributions to the web site - and are urgently seeking improved funding.
The Safe Speed web site contains more than 350,000 words of road safety analysis and information. We are seeking publishers for 'the book of the web site'.
It has turned out to be quite an amazing story and there are opportunities for journalists and broadcasters to explore how all this came about, what it means, and where road safety has gone so badly wrong.
