Road safety campaigners yesterday called for speed cameras to be banned after police slashed road deaths by 40 per cent without them.

Only two forces in Britain refuse to operate fixed speed traps – and both have recorded significant reductions in road deaths.

 

Official statistics just released show that police across Britain have quadrupled fines in the last decade to more than £106million a year.

 

The money collected by Durham Constabulary – just £169,000 in 2006 – is tiny by comparison because the force does not operate the fixed ­camera traps. Yet at the same time the force has cut its road death toll from 44 in 1998 to 26 last year – a fall of more than 40 per cent.

 

Neighbouring police forces which operate cameras have fined moto­rists millions.

 

Northumbria, which operates 45 fixed cameras and 104 mobile sites, collected more than £3million, and Cleveland issued fines of £1.1million.

 

The only other force in the country to have banned fixed cameras is nearby North Yorkshire – and road deaths there are down by 15 per cent.

 

All of the remaining forces operate speed cameras, hated by drivers and motoring organisations which regard them as a revenue-raising device rather than a safety measure.

 

And although the death toll nationally has dropped from 3,421 in 1998 to 3,172 in 2006 – a reduction of seven per cent – it is far below the ­levels achieved in North Yorkshire and Durham.

 

Claire Armstrong, of the anti-fixed camera campaign group Safe Speed, said: “Speed cameras are not saving lives.” Her organisation wants to see speed cameras removed and rep­laced with more officers on patrol, as is the case in Durham. Ms Armstrong said: “The police presence on the road is no longer there. You can drive up and down all day and not see a single police car. It is very worrying.”

 

She added: “Speed cameras just target the ordinary, law-abiding motorist who goes a few miles an hour over the limit but isn’t driving dangerously.

 

“The result is that the relationship bet­ween the police and the public is now at an all-time low.”

 

 

Should all speed cameras be scrapped?

 

Do you think roads would be SAFER without cameras?

 

Source : Sunday Express

i think this is clearly a case of making statistics prove whatever you want them too..

 

of course speed cameras have cut deaths, they have been installed at danger spots here in derbys and accidents have fallen significantly.

Fife is another county without fixed speed cameras.

 

i assume this report only covers England and Wales <_<

Speed Cameras are a form of Stealth Tax, end of story..... -_-

Speed Cameras are a form of Stealth Tax, end of story..... -_-

 

as a matter of interest..

 

how else could the speed laws be enforced and speeding drivers be caught? because expecting drivers not to speed and behave is a nonsense.

how else could the speed laws be enforced and speeding drivers be caught? because expecting drivers not to speed and behave is a nonsense.

 

How did they do it before Speed cams were introduced.....?

 

Seems to me that in the places that have gotten rid of speed cams (Durham and Yorkshire) deaths are being reduced.... I reckon a Police presence would be a far more effective deterrant than these revenue raising devices....

 

 

How did they do it before Speed cams were introduced.....?

 

they didnt, nor in the 'good old days' did they use brethalisers, and people were being killed.

 

on todays highly crowded roads, with high powered vehicles and a free for all drink culture, something HAS to be done to deter drink drivers and speeding drivers... speed kills... fact.

something HAS to be done to deter drink drivers and speeding drivers

 

Yes, I agree, and a positive Police presence would achieve this to a greater degree than speed cams which are nothing more than a fukkin' Stealth Tax for many local authorities, absolutely NOBODY sees them as being a deterrant - drivers dont, road safety campaigners dont, drivers organisations dont, more and more cops themselves are coming to the bloody obvious conclusion that they dont. The ONLY people that think they DO work effectively as a deterrant are the bureaucrats in Local Authorities.... Sorry Rob, but a camera is NO kind of deterrant AT ALL and it has been proven that it aint a deterrant, the flashing blue lights of a cop car bearing down on you on the other hand, that's brown-trouser time even if you're driving perfectly correctly mate...... :lol: :P

 

Cant argue with the facts mate, the counties that got rid of speed cams and put the coppers out in force on the roads GOT A RESULT.....

 

Yes, I agree, and a positive Police presence would achieve this to a greater degree than speed cams which are nothing more than a fukkin' Stealth Tax for many local authorities, absolutely NOBODY sees them as being a deterrant - drivers dont, road safety campaigners dont, drivers organisations dont, more and more cops themselves are coming to the bloody obvious conclusion that they dont. The ONLY people that think they DO work effectively as a deterrant are the bureaucrats in Local Authorities.... Sorry Rob, but a camera is NO kind of deterrant AT ALL and it has been proven that it aint a deterrant, the flashing blue lights of a cop car bearing down on you on the other hand, that's brown-trouser time even if you're driving perfectly correctly mate...... :lol: :P

 

Cant argue with the facts mate, the counties that got rid of speed cams and put the coppers out in force on the roads GOT A RESULT.....

 

BOLLOCKS!

 

cops NEED evidence of speeding, cameras...either stationary or mobile, HAVE to be used to prove you are speeding, otherwise its your word against theirs! :lol: just what you wouldnt support! :lol:

 

aint a deterant?... utter c**p... only a moron would speed through a camera, so they ARE a deterant.

 

remind me again scott... just how many miles a year do YOU drive? :P ..... stop telling me how i react to cameras, because i heed speed limits.

Er, ever hear of "Radar Guns" which record the speeds that motorists drive which the police in OTHER countries use to gather proof of speeding....??? There's your evidence...

 

I dont need to be a driver to believe that speed cams are an utter nuisance and a mistake, I actually LISTEN to what my friends who DO drive tell me... I also listen to the EXPERTS out there who ALL SAY THE SAME THING about speed cams..... You really are a patronising git sometimes you know that...? And you REFUSE to listen to what road safety campainers, drivers organisations, the police and the majority of DRIVERS themselves are saying.. Cant you just actually admit that you are WRONG, and that these cameras are nothing more than a stealth tax and are NO DETERRANT WHATSOEVER.....????

 

Hiring more Transport cops to patrol roads and motorways with on-board RADAR SYSTEMS would be the most effective deterrant... If people knew that there were coppers around laying in wait somewhere waiting to catch people out and actively pursue them, are you honestly trying to tell me that this wouldn't have a far greater psychological effect on motorists...? Course it bloody would, only a moron would think otherwise.....

 

Did you know that there are websites out there which have detailed locations of every single stationary speed camera in the country...? Any motorist with enough savvy and computer knowledge could use this info, put it into in-car Sat-Nav systems, and make sure that they cut their speed only when approaching a camera, but between cameras, speed up again.... Try pulling that trick off with a copper patrolling the roads..... :lol: :lol:

Er, ever hear of "Radar Guns" which record the speeds that motorists drive which the police in OTHER countries use to gather proof of speeding....??? There's your evidence...

 

I dont need to be a driver to believe that speed cams are an utter nuisance and a mistake, I actually LISTEN to what my friends who DO drive tell me... I also listen to the EXPERTS out there who ALL SAY THE SAME THING about speed cams..... You really are a patronising git sometimes you know that...? And you REFUSE to listen to what road safety campainers, drivers organisations, the police and the majority of DRIVERS themselves are saying.. Cant you just actually admit that you are WRONG, and that these cameras are nothing more than a stealth tax and are NO DETERRANT WHATSOEVER.....????

 

Hiring more Transport cops to patrol roads and motorways with on-board RADAR SYSTEMS would be the most effective deterrant... If people knew that there were coppers around laying in wait somewhere waiting to catch people out and actively pursue them, are you honestly trying to tell me that this wouldn't have a far greater psychological effect on motorists...? Course it bloody would, only a moron would think otherwise.....

 

Did you know that there are websites out there which have detailed locations of every single stationary speed camera in the country...? Any motorist with enough savvy and computer knowledge could use this info, put it into in-car Sat-Nav systems, and make sure that they cut their speed only when approaching a camera, but between cameras, speed up again.... Try pulling that trick off with a copper patrolling the roads..... :lol: :lol:

 

i refered to radar guns as 'mobile'..

 

yakkety yak... i dont swallow what any 'expert' tells me, i use my own brain to reach a considered conclusion for myself. this may or may not agree with what the 'experts' tell me.

 

now im telling YOU, as a driver who clocks up something like 20k a year traveling on motorways, dual carriageways, a roads , b roads, lanes i can assure you that speed cameras DO make me drive more carefully. ESPECIALLY on unfamiliar roads when i dont know where the cameras may be. now you may call me wrong here, but that DOES deter me from speeding! i watch my speed carefully in such cases! im sure im not the only one. and i dont use a girly sat nav, i have a brain and a map! nor am i sad enough to track down in any way where speed cameras might be. alot of areas have average speed cameras , so slowing down then speeding up simply will not work.

 

fact... people slow down for cameras... either stationary or in areas where mobile speed cameras are used.

 

fact... people slow down for cameras... either stationary or in areas where mobile speed cameras are used.

 

Yeah, they slow down for the camera, then speed up again when they've cleared it..... :lol: I know how people work it man.... I've been in cars and seen people do it and get away with it time after time.... I've a mate who's self-employed, has a "Kleen-eazy" business, travels all over the Central/East area of Scotland, probably does more miles than YOU do, and he knows ALL the dodges, and hasn't had a single accident or near-miss in over ten years of doing his business, and yeah he DOES have a Sat-Nav system because he finds it convienient, nowt "girly" about it :rolleyes: .... Speed cams are a joke dude, my mate says so, his fellow reps say so, Drivers Orgs and Road Safety Orgs say so...... So, in the face of all this evidence, YOU reckon you're right....? :lol: :P

 

Yeah, they slow down for the camera, then speed up again when they've cleared it..... :lol: I know how people work it man.... I've been in cars and seen people do it and get away with it time after time.... I've a mate who's self-employed, has a "Kleen-eazy" business, travels all over the Central/East area of Scotland, probably does more miles than YOU do, and he knows ALL the dodges, and hasn't had a single accident or near-miss in over ten years of doing his business, and yeah he DOES have a Sat-Nav system because he finds it convienient, nowt "girly" about it :rolleyes: .... Speed cams are a joke dude, my mate says so, his fellow reps say so, Drivers Orgs and Road Safety Orgs say so...... So, in the face of all this evidence, YOU reckon you're right....? :lol: :P

 

what evidence? 'my m8 says so'?...:lol: sorry but i dont accept that road safety orgs say so... hell they are the ones that have campaigned for cameras outside schools on busy roads here in derby. in sawley theres 3 in a row, yep... EVERY car slows down for them.. so it IS detering speeding!

 

of course people slow down where fixed cameras are situated, thats the idea :rolleyes:

 

but when you on a road you are unfamiliar with, or one that has 'mobile speed cameras' signes, you DO slow down and observe the limit!!! thats exactly what I do! and many fellow detectorists as we cannot afford speeding fines. now that is CLEARLY detering us from speeding!

 

as for them being a stealth tax... DONT SPEED then you wont pay it! :lol: again... a deterant.

what evidence? 'my m8 says so'?...:lol: sorry but i dont accept that road safety orgs say so... hell they are the ones that have campaigned for cameras outside schools on busy roads here in derby. in sawley theres 3 in a row, yep... EVERY car slows down for them.. so it IS detering speeding!

 

of course people slow down where fixed cameras are situated, thats the idea :rolleyes:

 

but when you on a road you are unfamiliar with, or one that has 'mobile speed cameras' signes, you DO slow down and observe the limit!!! thats exactly what I do! and many fellow detectorists as we cannot afford speeding fines. now that is CLEARLY detering us from speeding!

 

as for them being a stealth tax... DONT SPEED then you wont pay it! :lol: again... a deterant.

 

I can see them being a deterrant in city limits perhaps, but on the open road, nahhhh.... Bollocks mate... I've seen people get round it, I've been in cars as a passenger when they've done it, they dont change their habits at all except when they're passing by a part of the motorway they KNOW has cameras, after that, it's back to 80/90 MPH again, the only time a friend of mine got caught out was by a passing police patrol :lol: .... This is why I believe the ONLY effective deterrant is a visible Police presence in the form of Patrols, and an invisible police presence recording speeds using radar guns with police in locations such as lay-bys, etc, if that means training more officers then so be it, oh but of course the local authorities aint gonna do THAT are they...???? :rolleyes:

 

And those locations where police would lie in wait, as it were, would change every day, so the motorist would have no idea where the police would be from one day to the next... Cant exactly download that off off a website, UNLIKE the positions of fixed speed cams.... THERE is your proper deterrant - fear of being chased down by Inspector Knacker and given a court summons....

 

I can see them being a deterrant in city limits perhaps, but on the open road, nahhhh.... Bollocks mate... I've seen people get round it, I've been in cars as a passenger when they've done it, they dont change their habits at all except when they're passing by a part of the motorway they KNOW has cameras, after that, it's back to 80/90 MPH again, the only time a friend of mine got caught out was by a passing police patrol :lol: .... This is why I believe the ONLY effective deterrant is a visible Police presence in the form of Patrols, and an invisible police presence recording speeds using radar guns with police in locations such as lay-bys, etc, if that means training more officers then so be it, oh but of course the local authorities aint gonna do THAT are they...???? :rolleyes:

 

And those locations where police would lie in wait, as it were, would change every day, so the motorist would have no idea where the police would be from one day to the next... Cant exactly download that off off a website, UNLIKE the positions of fixed speed cams.... THERE is your proper deterrant - fear of being chased down by Inspector Knacker and given a court summons....

 

travel more.... it aint all about fixed cameras in cities, whilst what you say about slowing down then speeding up is true, iit aint the full picture. that only works IF you know where the camera is and its not in an area where mobile cameras oporate. here in derby mobile cameras are regular sights on certain roads, so IF theres a warning sign saying 'mobile speed cameras' i ALWAYS heed them. try driving down the a1 near biggleswade, not a familiar stretch of road, but has loads of fixed cameras... i slow down. anybody who ignores spped camera signes do so at their own peril. as far as im concerned... they work, cos i will watch my speed in these areas more.

Fixed speed cameras don't work, they only encourage drivers to slow down for the camera, after that the speeds are back to what they were before the camera, hardly a deterrent. A speeder suddenly braking for a camera is more likely to cause an accident then the same speeder driving along that road at 80/90 without the camera there for him to hit the brakes.

Fixed speed cameras don't work, they only encourage drivers to slow down for the camera, after that the speeds are back to what they were before the camera, hardly a deterrent. A speeder suddenly braking for a camera is more likely to cause an accident then the same speeder driving along that road at 80/90 without the camera there for him to hit the brakes.

 

My argument exactly, which is why I favour more traffic police on patrol and in surveillance units with mobile radars or cameras along lay-bys or accident black spots where they cannot be so easily detected... Locations for these patrols and surveillance units would be randomized on a day to day basis, so motorists would have absolutely no clue where the cops would be or when.... I reckon that fear of being chased down by a cop-car flashing its lights would be a far greater deterrant than fixed cams where you can easily find the locations of on the internet or sat nav systems.... A mate used to regularly drive 80/90 MPH, fixed cams never deterred him from doing so, he would do the whole slow-down-speed-up trick; getting pulled over by the cops one time however, did the job..... :lol:

 

Fixed speed cameras don't work, they only encourage drivers to slow down for the camera, after that the speeds are back to what they were before the camera, hardly a deterrent. A speeder suddenly braking for a camera is more likely to cause an accident then the same speeder driving along that road at 80/90 without the camera there for him to hit the brakes.

 

... yawn...

 

but that only works where there are FIXED local cameras... if you are in an unfamiliar place with speed camera signes be it for fixed or mobile you would be a complete idiot to ignore them and try to 'surf' the cameras... besides one of the mobile police cameras favourite location is about half a mile beyond a fixed camera...

 

so yes, local fixed cameras do not make you slow right down forever... but go beyond your locale and try to get past them and you will soon be tripped up. mobile speed cameras are used much more, ignore the signes at your peril.

if you are in an unfamiliar place with speed camera signes be it for fixed or mobile you would be a complete idiot to ignore them and try to 'surf' the cameras...

 

Yeah, you kind of assume that a lot of drivers aren't of the idiotic "boy racer" variety..... :rolleyes: And, yeah, I would include my mate in this pre-getting nabbed by the cops... I'd have arguments with him about his speeding...

 

Anyway, I dunno why we in this country are so bloody irresponsible on the roads, if you look to places such as Germany, France or Scandinavia, motorists there actually tend to be more sensible and show a lot more road sense....

f*** speed cams, my friend got a $70 ticket for going 59 in a 55mph zone.

 

f***ing ridiculous!