AD » Speed Cameras

Bus lane camera rakes in £20,000 a day!

admin — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 20:47:45 +0000

One of Britain’s most lucrative road traffic cameras has issued £600,000 of fines in less than a month, it has been revealed. Astonishingly 10,000 drivers have been caught using a bus lane in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, a number which equals around an eighth of the total population of the town. Currently it is raking in a staggering £16,000 per day but local MP Mike Penning says the reason for this is that the warning signs close to it are far too small and the lane should be painted red. Hertfordshire County Council, who installed it at the beginning of August, is refusing to suspend its enforcement despite Mr Penning being ‘inundated’ with letters from angry constituents. The local authority says the signs in Moor End Road are legal but the MP disagrees, and he is the under secretary for transport in the current Government. ‘I have been inundated with letters. Ignorance in the eyes of the law has never been a defence but some of the signage is clearly wrong,’ Mr Penning said. More

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Cameras’s cause more accidents than they stop!

admin — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 21:35:51 +0000

Many speed cameras have not cut accident rates and may even have increased them, figures reveal for the first time today. Statistics published by the Department for Transport show many cameras have done little or nothing to improve accident rates, but have proved highly effective in clocking up speeding fines. Only a small number of councils have agreed to publish the full data on each speed camera in their area. But ministers will today urge all councils to follow suit – saying motorists have a right to know whether local speed cameras are justified. Road safety minister Mike Penning said: ‘We are shining the light of transparency on the performance of speed cameras. ‘People want to know that if their tax money is being spent on speed cameras that they are actually making their roads safer, not just raising money. More

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Pensioner annoys council with bird box gatso!

admin — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 22:05:10 +0000

A pensioner has put his foot down on speeding motorists by erecting this bird box outside his home – which looks like a speed camera. Ian Magee, 63, was fed up with motorists breaking the 30mph speed limit on the main road in Williton, Somerset, so he decided to make his own deterrent. He created a bird box – complete with nesting holes where the camera lense should be – and painted it the trademark yellow of a roadside speed trap. A pensioner has put his foot down on speeding motorists by erecting this bird box outside his home – which looks like a speed camera. Ian Magee, 63, was fed up with motorists breaking the 30mph speed limit on the main road in Williton, Somerset, so he decided to make his own deterrent. He created a bird box – complete with nesting holes where the camera lense should be – and painted it the trademark yellow of a roadside speed trap. More

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New transparency rules for speed cameras!

admin — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 13:38:30 +0000

Full information about speed cameras will be published by local authorities and the police for the first time, Road Safety Minister Mike Penning announced today. Figures showing the numbers of accidents and casualties at camera sites – both before and after cameras were installed – will be published by local authorities. And police forces will publish the number of speeding prosecutions arising from each camera in their area, as well as force-wide information about whether offenders are fined, complete a speed awareness course or are taken to court. Mike Penning said: “We want to improve accountability and make sure that the public are able to make informed judgements about the decisions made on their behalf. So if taxpayers’ money is being spent on speed cameras then it is right that information about their effectiveness is available to the public. “That is why we want full details of accidents and casualties at camera sites, along with the number of offences arising from each camera, to be easily accessible. This will help to show what impact cameras are having on road safety and also how the police are dealing with offenders.” English highway authorities are required to either publish or ensure publication of site by site casualty, collision and speed information for permanent fixed camera sites as soon as practical, and should provide the website address to the Department by 20th July. The information should usually include annual collision and casualty data back to 1990 for the numbers of killed and seriously injured people and for all personal injuries. Local authorities which support camera enforcement financially should also ensure that a deployment strategy is published. The Department will set up a central hub providing links to local websites where the information is published. The Highways Agency will publish site by site casualty, collision and speed information for permanent fixed camera sites on its network or provide links to where such sites are being included in what local authorities are publishing. Police forces are to publish the number of prosecutions arising from each permanent or long term temporary fixed camera site in their area each year, along with the total number of offences recorded by all cameras and the total numbers of offenders given a fixed penalty notice, or taken to court and the numbers of people opting to complete speed awareness courses. More

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Gatsos ‘are low on film’!

admin — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 21:33:14 +0000

Britain’s wet-film Gatso speed cameras are running short of film thanks to a U-turn on the decision to switch off the devices. Last summer the government cut spending on road safety by £38 million, so many local authorities vowed to axe speed cameras. Supplies of film have dwindled since then because the major supplier, Fujifilm, anticipating lower demand, cancelled an order for rolls of 35mm stock from Japan. Two sources have told Autocar that the Gatso film will be in short supply until September and that camera operations are being hampered as a result. However, a spokesman for Fujifilm said the supply chain will be back to normal at the end of June. “It’s just a supply and demand thing,” he said. “We toned down our orders, but the police have been ordering as usual, so we are air-freighting supplies to clear the backlog.” At least 6000 speed cameras are thought to be operational in the UK. The bulk are digital, but around a tenth of them still use wet film. Source

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Less motorists now being caught by speed cameras!

admin — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 21:03:14 +0000

Statistics published by the Home Office showed that 935,000 motorists were caught speeding by camera in 2009, the latest year for which figures are available. The last time cameras caught fewer than one million speeding motorists was in 2001. The numbers rose steadily until they peaked at more than 1.8 million in 2005. However at the same time the soaring number of drivers facing fines and three points on their licence triggered a wave of anger among motorists who claimed that the cameras were being used as a stealth tax. It led to the previous Government scrapping the system which allowed local safety partnerships to keep the fines and reinvest the proceeds in yet more cameras. The change, which saw all fines going to the Treasury, coincided with a reduction in both the number of cameras and motorists being fined in the latter half of the decade. More

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Trials to replace speed camera’s with trees in Norfolk!

admin — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 10:25:26 +0000

A trial in Norfolk found that creating avenue of trees and hedges had a dramatic impact on motorists’ behaviour. The experiment at four villages – Overstrand, Martham, Coltishall and Mundesley – showed that drivers dropped their speed because of the cut in their peripheral vision. In all there was a 20 per cent drop in the number of motorists driving at 40 to 60mph and overall average speeds fell by 1.5 per cent. At the same time trees were regarded as more suitable for the countryside than other traffic calming methods which are used in towns. Parish councils have told the DfT that the trees not only reduced speeding but also softened the landscape. The trials were hailed by Mike Penning, the road safety minister. “The success of Norfolk’s road side tree planting scheme proves that it is possible to use imaginative solutions to cut speeding on rural roads leading into villages rather than just resorting to cameras,” he said. More

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Half of speed cameras don’t work at any one time!

admin — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 23:18:55 +0000

More than half the fixed speed cameras in England and Wales don’t work at any one time, according to a new investigation conducted by Which?. The investigation, in the February issue of Which? magazine, found that 53% of fixed cameras in England and Wales are not in operation at any one time. However, this is not a repeat of the mass turn-off heavily reported last summer, when Oxfordshire stopped using all its cameras due to budget cuts. It is evidence of the different outlooks on the use of gatsos by different local authorities. More

New speed camera rules to improve transparency!

admin — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 21:14:45 +0000

As many as 500 uninsured vehicles are seized every day, with Vauxhall Astras the cars removed from the road most frequently, figures showed today. After Astras, the next most-seized vehicles are BMW 3 Series cars, according to figures based on roadside calls to the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) police helpline. The statistics come as a new online video warning of the consequences of driving without insurance is launched by the MIB, which compensates victims involved in accidents with drivers who have no insurance. Police use the Motor Insurance Database to detect cars being driven without insurance. The consequences for drivers taking to the road without insurance include vehicle seizure, a minimum of six licence penalty points, and a fixed fine of £200. Drivers who have their cars seized will also be liable for £150 in recovery fees and still have to prove that they have insurance before they can get their vehicles back. MIB chief executive Ashton West said: “Christmas is a time when household budgets are stretched to the limit and, for some, the renewal of insurance may be overlooked. “Modern technology means that motorists who have no insurance are more likely than ever to be caught. It is simply not worth the risk.” More

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800 could be killed if all UK speed camera’s turned off!

admin — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 22:40:08 +0000

Around 800 more people each year could be killed or seriously injured if all of Britain’s speed cameras were switched off, according to a new review. Conducted by Professor Richard Allsop for the RAC Foundation, the review investigated the impact of decommissioning all fixed and mobile cameras which were operational before central funding cuts. Several highways authorities have already switched off their cameras, including Oxfordshire, which pulled the plug on its 72-strong network at the beginning of August. The Oxford Mail reported today that Oxfordshire could reactivate its camera network in April, with the police footing the bill. According to Professor Allsop, benefits of the speed cameras are felt not just at the sites they are located, but across the wider road network. The charity now says that it is sending a copy of the review to all highways authorities – typically county councils, or city unitary authorities – “as they consider how best to use their reduced safety budgets”. In addition, the review found that speed cameras “are not significant revenue raisers for the General Exchequer” – pointing out that, for every £60 penalty notice issued in 2006-7, only £4 was left after the cost of camera operations were covered. More

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New Asset speed camera can catch drivers committing five offences!

admin — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 21:02:18 +0000

A speed camera designed to catch motorists committing up to five offences at the same time could be heading to Britain’s roads. As well as catching speeding motorists, the Asset camera should be able to pick out drivers who are not wearing seatbelts and accurately measure distances between moving cars to identify tailgating. Asset (advanced safety and driver support for essential road transport) can also note number plates and recognise cars with out-of-date tax discs and no insurance. Funded by the European commission, the camera system is being developed by a consortium that includes a number of European universities and research institutes and is being tested in Finland. Motoring organisations and campaigners in the UK gave the system a cautious welcome. AA president Edmund King said he was pleased if it stopped motorists tailgating but hoped it would not be used as a money-making measure. “Tailgating is more dangerous in most cases than speeding so I think most motorists would welcome it,” he said. “We will need sophisticated technology to police the roads and there would have to be safeguards. But it needs to be done as a safety measure, not as a money-making machine.” More

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DIY Camera van slows traffic!

admin — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 20:14:35 +0000

Motorists driving down Kerry Donnelly’s street routinely ignored the 30mph speed limit. But in the last few weeks residents have noticed that the traffic has slowed down dramatically – thanks to what appears to be a permanent police presence outside his house. A vehicle that looks remarkably similar to a speed camera van has been parked in the suburban street. In fact, the vehicle is a former police van that is no longer used by South Wales Police. In an attempt to make the streets safe for his children and neighbours, Mr Donnelly bought the van for £1,500 on the eBay auction website. He then spent ten minutes sticking tape in the window of the back door to fake a speed camera window. An official speed camera van was regularly positioned on the street in Canton, Cardiff, from 2007. But in July last year road safety chiefs switched it to other roads because the street ‘no longer met the criteria for speed enforcement’. Mr Donnelly 59, a delivery driver, claims that ever since the road has been like a Grand Prix circuit – endangering the lives of residents. He bought the van two months ago. ‘It works a treat,’ he said yesterday. ‘You can see drivers slow down the minute they see it’. More

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Dorset gains first residential average speed cameras!

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:38:21 +0000

The first average speed cameras in a residential area in the UK have been switched on in Dorset. The cameras, which measure speed over a stretch of road, were turned on outside Springdale First school in Poole. Until now, average speed cameras have only been seen through A-roads and motorways. The school was chosen for the six-month trial by nearby engineering firm Siemens, which is running the system and collating all the information. However no offending motorists will be prosecuted until the system gets Home Office approval. Mark Bonner-Moris, of Siemens, said: “Essentially we cannot prosecute them because the system has not got Home Office approval. “Ultimately, once the system is Home Office-approved, which will hopefully be early next year, they can be prosecuted. “Until that time, all we’re trying to do is demonstrate the effectiveness of the system.” More

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Massive £538,000 fine for 180mph speeder!

admin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 21:55:01 +0000

A speeding Swedish driver is facing the world‘s biggest ever motoring fine of 650,000 euros – around £538,000 – after being clocked at 180mph while driving through Switzerland. The 37-year-old man‘s £140,000 Mercedes SLS AMG was impounded along with his driving licence after soaring along at two and-a-half times the speed limit on a Swiss motorway. ‘We have no record of anyone being caught travelling faster in the country,’ said a police spokesman. The unnamed man was caught by a speed camera on the A12 highway between Bern and Lausanne on Friday. The police arrested him shortly afterwards when he stopped in a layby and he was released after questioning. It is believed he was collecting the brand new car from a seller in Germany. Benoît Dumas, a police officer in the area where the SLS six-litre-engine car was impounded, said: ‘He needed over half-a-kilometre of road to come to a halt.’ The driver had previously escaped being clocked by numerous speed cameras on his journey simply because he was going too fast and the instrument’s were incapable of clocking any speed beyond 200kph. It was a new generation of radar machines that finally caught him zooming along at close to 300kph. ‘I think the speedo on the car, which is new, is faulty,’ the driver told police. More

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28,000 crashes due to speed cameras in last decade!

admin — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 21:38:28 +0000

Speed cameras have triggered at least 28,000 crashes since 2001, according to new research. The devices also cause motorists to drive erratically, to not concentrate on the road and to brake suddenly when one comes into sight, a study has revealed. More than 80 per cent of drivers said they look at their speedometers rather than the cars in front when they approach a speed camera, a poll by insurance company LV revealed. A third of more than 1,500 motorists quizzed said they had witnessed an accident or a near-miss as a result of drivers’ erratic behaviour caused by the machines. And five per cent admitted they brake suddenly to avoid getting a fine, risking rear-end shunts. Research by ICM revealed that speed cameras are a contributory factor in one per cent of all road traffic accidents. DFT figures since 2001 estimates the number of crashes at 2.7 million – meaning the cameras have been involved in 27,900 accidents since 2001. John O’Roarke, spokesman for LV, said: ‘Speed cameras have been a feature on UK roads for almost 20 years, yet the feedback from drivers is that while they may reduce speed they also appear to impair driving ability or at the least concentration on the road. More

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Speed cameras face the axe in government funding cuts!

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:25:08 +0000

Thousands of speed cameras will be switched off after the Government slashed the money that funds them. In an open attempt to have the controversial cameras axed, ministers have pushed through 40% cuts to the cash handed to councils for road safety. That will limit the amount they can pass to road safety partnerships which run the cameras. Ministers have also axed all funding for new speed cameras. But senior Ministry of Transport officials indicated that many of the grey and yellow camera shells could remain to act as a deterrent to speeding drivers – a move that will irritate motorists. The Government has cut £38m of the £95m that had been due to go to local authorities this financial year for road safety. The move to reduce the number of cameras was welcomed by motoring groups which have long claimed that they are a stealth tax measure which has little impact on road safety. More

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Ministers to end funding for cash-cow speed cameras!

Confusing signs help traffic camera to catch 16,123 drivers in three months!

admin — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 20:32:42 +0000

Britain’s most profitable traffic camera has raked in almost £2 million in just three months after catching out motorists confused by a diversion. The single camera is earning a staggering £150,000-a-week from unwitting drivers who stray into a street filled with temporary bus and taxi lanes. The camera earns as much in a week as England and Chelsea football star John Terry – the country’s best-paid footballer – and is driving motorists mad. If it stays in place for 12 months, the camera – in Victoria, Central London – is on track to issue fines totalling a staggering £8 million. So far, 16,123 drivers have been hit with fines of £120 each at the diversion near Victoria rail station – one of the capital’s busiest junctions – swelling Transport for London (TfL) coffers by more than £1.9 million. The junction is used daily by thousands of motorists – many of them strangers to the capital dropping off or collecting people at the rail station and neighbouring Tube station. Even though large temporary red signs warn drivers of the diversion off busy Vauxhall Bridge Road, motorists still see permanent signposts for Victoria which direct them to make a right turn into what is now a temporary bus lane. Motoring organisations, which have complained about the camera, say the signs confuse drivers and this results in them straying into the bus lane. More

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Single gatso rakes in £1.3 a year in fines!

admin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 22:28:15 +0000

A campaign group has claimed a speed camera on a Dorset road nets about £1.3m a year in fines despite one serious injury on the road since 1999. Dorset Speed said an average 1,843 motorists a month get a £60 ticket after being caught over the 30mph limit on the A350 Holes Bay Road in Poole. But Dorset Safety Camera Partnership (DSCP) said about 600,000 vehicles pass through the junction every month. It added that “only 0.26% of these drivers were prosecuted for speeding”. Ian Belchamber, who founded Dorset Speed, said the DSCP refused his Freedom of Information request claiming the data would encourage attacks on speed cameras. Mr Belchamber took the case to the Information Commissioner who released the figures. He added that the fines totalled around £108,000 a month, equating to the £1.3m figure. Mr Belchamber said: “Quite obviously, speed cameras are being deliberately used where they are going to get the maximum amount of funds and not where there’s a safety problem. More

Ministers to end funding for cash-cow speed cameras!

admin — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 22:44:20 +0000

Ministers have promised to put the brake on any new fixed speed cameras and warned they will no longer be used as a ‘cash cow’ to milk motorists. Transport minister Mike Penning told MPs yesterday that the Government will scrap millions of pounds a year in grants handed to local authorities to fund new speed traps. Mr Penning warned town halls to use other effective road safety measures – such as speed warning signs – to cut deaths and injuries on Britain’s roads. Local authorities will still be able to install new speed cameras, but they will have to fund them from council tax and are likely to have to justify their introduction to residents. Over the past decade, the number of speed cameras has trebled, making Britain the speed camera capital of Europe. They raise about £110million a year for the Treasury. More

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Speed camera nets £54,000 in just 10 days!

admin — Sat, 29 May 2010 20:20:26 +0000

Two fixed cameras installed to slow cars to 40mph approaching roadworks are thought to be the biggest moneyspinners in Britain. Activated just 10 days ago, officials estimate 1,000 drivers a day speed past the cameras at over 40mph. But only those exceeding 46mph are issued with tickets. Despite the higher threshold, at least 900 tickets potentially netting £54,000 in £60 fixed penalty notices have already been issued. The cameras were installed last Monday to slow drivers on the A1139 Frank Perkins Parkway in Peterborough. Previously, the most prolific camera was a Gatso on the M11 in Essex, which issues around tickets 9,000 a year, costing speeding motorists £500,000 annually. More

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Motorist battles to prove Gatso camera don’t work in cold weather!

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:29:13 +0000

A defiant motorist has embarked on a landmark legal battle against speed cameras – after claiming that Gatso units may issue false tickets in cold weather. Andrew Fowler, 48, was flashed in Cambridge on a freezing February morning last year allegedly travelling at 41mph in a 30mph limit. But the dad-of-three, who passed the camera daily en route to work for 12 months, was sure the speedo on his silver Skoda Favorit read around 30mph. He contested the ticket and began a one-man campaign to prove it was faulty, which if successful could open the doors for thousands of drivers to challenge speeding fines. Electrical engineer Andrew now claims to have expert evidence showing that Gatsos can give false readings when the outside temperature drops below 0*C. He believes the cameras are only calibrated for accuracy between 0*C and 70*C, and at lower temperatures vital timing circuitry is slowed inside the unit. This means as he passed the camera, when the temperature was minus -5*C, the normal half-second pause between the two images used to measure speed was delayed. It would then give the impression that the car had travelled further over the white lines painted on the road used to calculate distance and give a higher speed reading. He has now taken his appeal to Cambridge Crown Court, where he hopes to push for the matter to be taken to judicial review at the High Court in London. More

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Estate agent sign that looks like speed camera slows motorists!

admin — Wed, 26 May 2010 20:03:25 +0000

An estate agent who prides herself on ‘having a wealth of experience and knowledge in marketing’ has been getting her business noticed for all the wrong reasons. Jennie Jones’s distinctive black and yellow ‘For Sale’ signs have been fooling motorists into thinking they are speed cameras. The signs, which have been erected outside properties in Suffolk by the local agent, have been prompting drivers to brake as they pass by. From a distance, the signs bear a remarkable resemblance to the yellow boxes that contain speed cameras, and it seems their presence is having a dramatic effect on speeding. As cars near the signs, drivers are applying their brakes in response to the unmissable canary yellow square. More

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Bedfordshire Police now using ‘commander vans’ to catch speeding motorists!

admin — Fri, 21 May 2010 22:13:13 +0000

Meet the latest weapon in the war on motorists – this police speed camera van equipped with FOUR cameras which catches drivers on film in every direction simultaneously. Bedfordshire Police are now operating the new ‘Command Vans’ with cameras at the front, both sides and back rather than just the rear as with traditional speed vans. The four vans, which were converted from traditonal rear camera only vans at a cost of £28,000 each, allow a single operator to monitor traffic from all angles at once. Tradtional vans could capture speeding cars but struggle to identify drivers who contested tickets and motorbikes which do not have front number plates. But the new vehicles will can register a speeding vehicle as it approaches up to a kilometre away and then record front, rear and side images as it passes to ensure identification. An officer sits in the back mannning a laser gun and monitors feeds from the three extra cameras high on each side panel and on the dashboard. Bedfordshire Police are believed to be the first force in the UK to use the new Commander Vans. More

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New high-tech speed cameras on trial in UK!

admin — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:57:26 +0000

Speed cameras which communicate with each other by satellite are being secretly tested on British roads. The hi-tech devices can follow drivers’ progress for miles to calculate whether they have broken speed limits. Combining number plate recognition technology with global positioning satellites, they can be set up in a network to monitor tens of thousands of cars over huge areas for the smallest breach. Known as SpeedSpike, the system uses similar methods of recognition as the cameras which enforce the congestion charge in London, and allow two cameras to ‘talk’ to each other if a vehicle appears to have travelled too far in too short a space of time. After a covert national trial which has not been publicised until now, just days after a report showed motorists have been fined almost £1billion in speeding tickets under Labour, authorities hope the new cameras will enable them to re-create the system used on motorway contraflows. The Home Office is currently testing them at two sites – one in Southwark in London and another on the A374 between Antony and Torpoint in Cornwall. Details of the secret trials emerged in a House of Commons report and immediately attracted criticism. More

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Rule change will allow speeding drivers to dodge points!

admin — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 20:42:15 +0000

POLICE are to give more speed offenders the opportunity to attend an educational course instead of driving license endorsements. Speed seminars were introduced in 2001 for those caught committing low level speed offences – now rules over which drivers qualify have been relaxed, meaning more motorists than ever will qualify. The day long workshops are designed to educate offenders on the dangers of breaking speed limits and police say they are better at curbing re-offending rates than license points. Casualty reduction officer, Pc Barry Gardner, said: “The changes concerning which drivers qualify to be offered a place on the seminar will change this summer and we’re obviously expecting an increase in the number of people attending. “The biggest being that it’s thought people are less likely to commit a speeding offence again – everybody benefits from that.” The equation currently used to decide if a course can be offered is to calculate ten per cent of the speed limit, plus an extra 4mph – so someone doing up to 37mph in a 30mph could qualify as may someone doing up to 59mph in a 50mph limit. Under the new rules the additional speed on top of the ten per cent of the speed limit will be boosted to 6pmh, meaning a driver caught at 39pmh in a 30mph or 61mph limit in a 50mph limit could escape points. More

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Ex-copper slows traffic with bird box speed camera!

admin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:01:46 +0000

A bird box resembling a traffic camera has put the brakes on speeding motorists racing through a village. Retired police officer Bill Angus placed the box on a pole at the edge of his property in order, he says, to offer a little help to the local bird life. The birds may or may not be grateful – but his fellow villagers certainly are. Since the bright yellow box – pictured right – went up, the number of drivers doing 60mph through the 30mph zone has come down. Mr Angus insists – without so much as a hint of a smile – that the effect on speeders is no more than a happy coincidence. ‘Why does everyone think it’s a fake speed camera?’ he asked. ‘It’s a bird box and has been designed this way to stop people stealing it. It’s a bright colour, too, to attract the blue tits and finches. ‘Since I have put it up, the traffic is keeping to 30mph. If people want to think it is a camera, that is a matter for themselves.’ Mr Angus said villagers in Newbottle, near Houghton-le-Spring, Durham, have long campaigned for a speed camera, but were told it was not a priority site. More Update

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Proposals to have average speed cameras on all our motorways!

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:18:46 +0000

Average speed cameras could be fitted on all of Britain’s motorways if new proposals to slash carbon emissions are approved by the Government. The devices lead to fewer accidents and speeding tickets on the roads where they are installed than normal speed cameras, a new report by the Government’s environmental advisers claims. The Sustainable Development Commission is calling for cameras to be installed on all motorways in the UK because it is predicted that if all drivers stuck to 70mph, the UK’s carbon emissions would be cut by 1.4 million tonnes. In its report the Commission says drivers slam on the brakes when they see a speed camera and accelerate away as soon as they have passed it. More

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London sees the arrival of average speed cameras!

admin — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:55:57 +0000

Average speed cameras similar to those used to police motorways are to be deployed on a stretch of the A13 in London, Transport for London (TfL) has announced. The cameras – which record the time each passing vehicle takes to cover a fixed distance – are currently being fitted along a “notorious” stretch of the road between Canning Town and the Goresbrook interchange, in a bid to halve the number of people killed or seriously injured. TfL said that the route’s accident rate is almost one-fifth higher than is typical of the capital’s major roads, with speeding causing one half of all crashes. Between 2006 and 2008 there were nearly 500 collisions on the 7.5-mile section of road, with three fatal and 34 serious accidents. The scheme, which will see 84 cameras installed at 37 locations, will be the first time in the UK that such cameras have been deployed to police speed on an urban road with multiple entries and exits. As part of the project, which is due to be completed by the summer, the speed limit on a section of the route will be raised from 40mph to 50mph. More

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Angry motorist destroys speed camera with bomb!

admin — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:38:17 +0000

Many a miffed driver has received a fine in the post after being photographed breaking the speed limit. But one motorist has taken his dislike of speed cameras to the extreme by attaching a bomb to one in the dead of night and blowing it to pieces. Police were today hunting the person who blew up a yellow roadside camera, leaving parts strewn across a road in Eastleigh, Hampshire. Residents living along the Bishopstoke Road were woken up by the sound of an explosion in the early hours of Christmas Eve. When they peered out of their windows they saw a cloud of smoke coming from the destroyed camera. Emergency services rushed to the scene amid initial fears the explosion had actually come from a nearby petrol station. Local resident Tina McCarthy was woken up by the deafening bang at 2.30am. She said: ‘A massive explosion woke me up and when I looked outside I could see a huge cloud of smoke coming from the camera. ‘There had been thunder and lightning that evening but this was so much louder – at first I thought someone had shot at it. ‘It’s quite worrying to think that someone has these kind of explosive devices and can plant them so close to our homes.’ Police are now investigating the incident and are checking CCTV in the area to try and find the culprit. More

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38,243 motorists caught by one speed camera in 5 years!

admin — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 23:27:06 +0000

The busiest speed camera in Britain caught more than 38,000 motorists in five years, figures have shown. The camera responsible for snaring the most motorists is sited on the M11 in Woodford, Essex, where the motorway reverts to a dual-carriageway and is subject to a 50mph limit. Police revealed the camera had caught an 38,243 speeders, yielding a potential £2.3m in fines. In London the camera sited at the Limehouse Link Tunnel, in East London, was the busiest in 2006 and 2007 snaring 7,193 and 5,604 drivers respectively. However, last year it was overtaken by the camera on the A316 Country Way, near Kempton Park Racecourse in South West London, which caught 8,491 drivers breaking the speed limit. In Surrey the camera on the A3 Esher bypass has nabbed the most speeders in the county for three of the last four years. In those three years it has been responsible for the issuing of 12,894 tickets. A camera on the southbound A1 at Elkesley, in Nottinghamshire, was so busy at one stage it was averaging almost 1,000 speeding months per month. It has been the busiest in the county for the last three years amassing a total of 23,081 speeders, netting a potential £1.4m. More

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Average speed cameras for 2010 in residential areas!

admin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:59:58 +0000

Average speed cameras are set to be introduced into residential areas from next year. The government has approved the Spec3 cameras and plans to roll them out in 2010 with the aim of enforcing a 20mph speed limit in urban areas. Camden, Southwark and Waltham Forrest will be among eight London boroughs to pioneer the cameras. Along with Norwich and York, they will also follow Portsmouth and introduce a blanket 20mph limit on all residential roads. Research carried out by the Department for Transport in London claims that cutting the speed limit to 20mph makes these areas much safer for road users. According to the research, only one in forty pedestrians dies when hit at 20mph compared with one in five hit at 30mph. The cameras will be connected to each other wirelessly – allowing them to track cars for up to 15 miles, monitoring their average speed. More

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No rise in crashes after speed cameras removed in Swindon!

admin — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:13:08 +0000

FOUR months on from the scrapping of speed cameras in Swindon no increase in accidents has been reported on the roads affected. This was the message from Coun Peter Greenhalgh, Swindon Council’s lead member for transport, who said the withdrawal of the cameras meant money could now be spent more effectively. Five cameras across the town were deactivated on July 31 after Swindon Council withdrew its membership of the Wiltshire and Swindon Safety Camera Partnership over funding issues. Asked at Monday’s Scrutiny Committee meeting what impact there had been since the decision Coun Greenhalgh (Con, Freshbrook and Grange Park) said there had been no discernible effect on speed levels. He said: “I can only speak about places where cameras have been removed. “There has been no increase in accidents at those locations. Speed is an issue but there’s no evidence speeds have increased on those roads. We often get people saying speeds are too fast on a certain road then, when we do some analysis, we don’t get any evidence of that.” Coun Greenhalgh said the £320,000 road safety budget was now being directed to other areas. more

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Speed camera that rakes in £500,000-a-year blamed for doubling of motorway casualties!

admin — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:46:58 +0000

A motorway speed camera responsible for earning the Government £500,000-a-year in fines has been blamed for increasing accidents since it was installed. The camera, which monitors a busy stretch of the M11 in Essex, results in 9,000 tickets a year, but figures released by police show crashes have risen by a quarter at the site. A Freedom of Information request made by campaigners who oppose what they see as revenue-based penalty tickets also showed casualties have almost doubled since 2001 when the camera was set up. Paul Pearson, who runs motoring website penaltychargenotice.co.uk, said: ‘No wonder they haven’t removed the camera that is causing these accidents. ‘It is just raising too much money and they clearly want to keep it there.’ More

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Hi-tech French cameras could be heading this way!

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:47:02 +0000

Britain’s motorists are about to be hit with a new breed of hi-tech sneaky speed cameras. Nicknamed the ‘supertraps’, the latest generation of speed cameras do not flash, can cover multiple lanes at once and tell the difference between speeding lorries and over-the-limit cars. The new devices won’t be easy to spot, either. They look like nothing more than steel posts by the roadside, which means many drivers may not even realise they’ve been caught until they get their fines through the post. The new cameras were invented in France and are set to be tried out on French roads before making their way across the Channel. According to French motor magazine Auto Plus, the French government intends to introduce them within a year and the UK is likely to follow within months. More

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Change lanes to avoid speeding fines!

admin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:28:29 +0000

A massive flaw in a new generation of speed cameras means motorists can avoid fines and points on their licence simply by changing lanes. The Home Office admitted last night that drivers can avoid being caught the by hi-tech ‘SPECS’ cameras which calculate a car’s average speed over a long distance. The astonishing loophole means that millions of speeding drivers around Britain could escape a £60 fine and three points on their licence. The hidden blind-spot – revealed today by the Daily Mail – raises questions about the supposedly foolproof hi-tech camera system which is increasingly used on Britain’s roads. Although designed to improve road safety, the loophole means that drivers may actually increase the risk of accidents by continually switching lanes. More

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Conservatives to put brakes on speed camera growth!

admin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:25:04 +0000

Fixed speed cameras will no longer be funded by the Government if the Tories win the next election, the Conservatives will announce today in a move designed to win the votes of frustrated motorists. Cameras, a ubiquitous sight on Britain’s roads, are Labour’s favoured method of cutting traffic speeds, and the number of cameras is thought to have trebled since the party came to power in 1997. Councils bid for a share of the annual £110m government road safety grant to pay for them. However, the shadow Transport Secretary, Theresa Villiers, will today announce that central funding for the devices would be withdrawn by the Conservatives. The party is backing the wider use of “vehicle activated signs”, which flash warnings and tell drivers to slow down if they are found to be breaking the speed limit. More

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Middle classes stitched up with speeding fines!

admin — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 07:53:51 +0000

Thousands of middle-class motorists who challenge speeding fines face having to pay most of their legal costs even if they win their cases. Reforms, which have been described as a ‘ stitch-up ‘ aimed at excluding the middle classes, will limit the costs that can be claimed back by the drivers. From October, the Ministry of Justice is cutting the current generous level of costs awarded to successful defendants to the lower rates used in legal aid cases. Legal experts say that as a result, some court victors, who currently have between 80 per cent and 100 per cent of their costs reimbursed by the legal system, can expect to have only between a fifth and a third paid back. The new rules will also affect drivers who successfully challenge drink- drive and other motoring prosecutions. Currently, nearly 400,000 drivers a year – about one in four of those who go to court – win their cases. More

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