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Motorist forced to seek help for phobia of SPEED CAMERAS which causes panic attacks behind the wheel

By Alex Millson
Last updated at 11:25 AM on 02nd March 2009

A motorist has been forced to seek help to cope with his irrational phobia of speed cameras.

While millions of drivers readily admit to hating Gatso cameras, Colin Gant's disgust has gone one stage further.

Spotting a camera by the side of the road can induce panic attacks, forcing the 41-year-old to pull over while he recovers.

The management worker, who drives over 500 miles a week, regularly has to take huge detours to avoid speed traps.
colin gant

Colin Gant, who has suffered a phobia of speed cameras for four years, is pictured here with Chris Smith from Norfolk Camera Partnership. Mr Gant did not want to be identified

The married father-of-two, who is a qualified advanced driver who has never had a speeding ticket in his life, admitted his phobia was 'completely irrational'.

He had only told his wife and closest family members about it before seeking help.

Mr Gant, of Lowestoft, Suffolk, said: 'I don't think there was any one moment when I suddenly realised it was becoming a problem.

'There was a growing realisation that something was wrong. It started playing on my mind all the time.

'It was difficult to explain to people. If you're scared of spiders people can understand that but nobody understands this.'

He explained that part of the condition was a fear of the unknown and concerns that the cameras could be accidentally triggered, exposing him to an unjust prosecution.

Mr Gant found himself constantly anticipating the next box and often driving several miles on back streets to avoid camera sites.

He said: 'Every time I drove past one I started worrying about what would happen if I was caught speeding. Would I lose my job? How would it affect my family?

'The irony is I've never been caught speeding and actually hate it when people drive too fast.

'I fully support the principle behind speed cameras.'

Realising that his fear was becoming an obsession, Mr Gant contacted Norfolk Safety Camera Partnership, which owns the cameras.

Bosses invited him behind the scenes of their operation in a bid to remove the mystery and threat posed by the cameras.

'I can only imagine what they thought when I got in touch.' said Mr Gant. 'I was worried they might just think I was a crank.'

Inspector Marcus Rowe, of the Camera Partnership, said that when he heard about Mr Gant's condition his first reaction was 'Is this a wind-up?'

But when he realised Mr Gant had a genuine problem the partnership worked with him to try and alleviate his fears.

Inspector Rowe said: 'We invited him to the office and basically just explained how we work and tried to remove the mystery surrounding this.

'One of his concerns was that he could be unfairly prosecuted so we explained that we work to thresholds designed to eliminate room for error.

'We always allow for at least 10 per cent of the speed limit and even beyond that we offer driver training to those who only just break the threshold. Prosecution is not our only focus.'

He added: 'I always thought of our organisation as being very open and transparent, but Mr Gant made us realise that we could put more information out there to help people like himself.'

Anxiety UK, which deals with phobias and other disorders, said that although such conditions often remain hidden from the public eye, Mr Gant is far from unique.

The charity's own chief executive amazingly suffers the same phobia.

Statistics from Anxiety UK, a charity run by sufferers and ex-sufferers of anxiety disorders, show that one in six adults have experienced from some form of 'neurotic health problem'.

An estimated 13 per cent of the adult population will develop a phobia at some point in their life.

Mr Gant said: 'I wouldn't say I'm cured but I can control it a lot better.'

I now have a phobia about reading newspapers because every day brings more bad news for the motorist....

I always thought of our organisation as being very open and transparent

Nah. That's not a phobia. That's rational behaviour.