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Bolton News"
VOTE: 1,825 trapped by speed cameras
By Joanne Rowe
Comment | Read Comments (70)
£109,500 revenue raised by 16 speed cameras in Bolton in 2007 alone
SPEED cameras in Bolton raked in £109,500 in fines last year.
Figures obtained by The Bolton News show 1,825 motorists were caught by fixed or mobile speed traps in the borough in 2007.
The statistics also reveal there has been a dramatic increase in the number of motorists hit with fines since the turn of the century.
In 2000, 695 tickets were issued to motorists caught by fixed and mobile speed cameras, generating £41,700. [/quote]
But these roads are not exactly safer ..
But then I have focussed on Bolton because my sisters live and work in this town.. and I did some of my initial training at what was then Bolton District and now the Royal Bolton Hospital. So I have a liking of this town. Each week there is a story of a hit and run in this typical town.
or a drunk or drugged driver.. pedestrian.. cyclist..
The anti-speed poll currently 63% agreeing far too many cams in Bolton
[quote]
By 2005, that figure had peaked at a high for the decade of 2,004 fines being issued - a total cost to the motorist of £120,240.
A motor campaign group last night called for all cash collected from speeding fines to be used to cut road deaths by funding road safety schemes.
Currently, only a proportion is ploughed back into such initiatives.
RAC Foundation chairman David Holmes said: "We have never objected to speed cameras in principle, but we do think they should be visible and serve a clear road safety purpose.
They should not be used just to make money.[/quote]
Well .. we all know this. But the sad truth is a "right little earner". It has nothing to do with saving lives. If this were the case- they would be very visible, at true danger spots and we would still have the security of our police. It's no accident that France is topping the reduction charts. Whilst I do agree some of their scams are cash cows too.. given position and sudden speed limit changes at these point.. I will pat them on the back on the basis their re-write of their Highway Code is actually "rather a good handbook", that they have tightened up their test and increased the number of dedicated traf pols on their roads. Rest of Europe still have higher KSI than the UK .. but they are reducing this figure at a greater rate than the UK and look set to have fewer KSI on their roads -placing the UK as "most dangerous" in the stat pop charts
But as my wife has pointed out..European motorways and fast roads are the safest with urbans .. high in dense road user volumes recording the most serious accidents. This factor features in all her links to those foreign sites which she has translated to me verbally. I am always in awe of this ability of hers. She says it;s "natural to her as she grew up with all this exposure to lingos"
I just wish she'd use a spell checker
more often
[quote="BN wrote:
"There are many parts of the road system where changes to the layout of the road would save lives. These are not being done because of shortage of cash.
"Revenue from speed cameras should be used imaginatively to fund projects of this kind."
Er RAC .. they claim.. Steve always came on here to tell me and Wildy off! Claiming he was spending.. educating kids in the local schools .. babble babble bubble burst ...
You see .. we have our own kids who attend an independent school. We have fostered kids whom we have to send to the local state school. OFF TOPIC WARNING! Quite frankly -- there is little difference in the quality of the teaching But a big difference in discipline.. which was why we chose not to inflict sassy junior felines on overly stressed teachers
BACK TO TOPIC!
My point? Steve was calling bluff. Our state school fosters never saw one liaison officer of theirs in any one of the local authority schools attended
I wish this was not the case.
Bolton press wrote:
The first speed cameras were introduced in the UK in London in 1992.
Since then they have become a regular roadside sight and earn the Treasury an estimated £82 million a year from fines from 5,000 speed cameras.
The Government passes a proportion of this cash back to a camera safety partnership - which is responsible for operating the cameras - to fund running costs.
Last year, the rules were changed so the income could also be used to promote road safety schemes.
Not seen evidence here. Dunno about Bolton but Jazz says no cops .. dangerous road engineering and plain daftness still.
BN wrote:
Bolton got its first speed cameras in April, 1996, when one was installed in Bury Road, Breightmet, near Torridon Road; another in Chorley New Road near Bolton School, Heaton; and a third in Manchester Road, Kearsley.
Three more were erected in Blackburn Road, Egerton; Chorley New Road, Horwich; and Crompton Way, Astley Bridge, by the end of the year.
More cameras sprung up in Manchester Road near the Blackrod bypass in 1998, five cameras were installed to monitor the 50mph limit on St Peter's Way in 2000
NOT KSI then
Oh sorry .. forgot.. When I was training there .. I had to deal with suicide jumpers from the bridge on Raikes Lane onto this road. They had another one in November last too.
Yep.. the cams stop this.
Quote:
and two were put up in Newbrook Road, Over Hulton.
The most recent camera installation in the borough was in 2006 in Wigan Road, near Hulton Lane, Deane.
Ah.. Laura Entwistle who died at 3 am .. from a hit and run thug. The suspect car was found .. abandoned and a burnt out wreck the next day. He's not been found yet by the way .. so still no justice for Laura. Believe me.. I'd love to see the scrote squirm when sentenced to the max.. but no chance when we replace a cop with a cam at the site.
Car was unregistered heap. Cams do not cop the drivers of these vehicles and these are the ones actually doing the killing and chucking missiles at cyclists.. because..
they are mindless yobs and I will admit to some political correctness on my part by suggesting we can remedy.. but only if we are prepared to do so by a rehabilitation programme whilst deprived of libertyI do think a person should be educated - with the punishment being deprived of liberty. You can equate it to my "grounding" our kids and fining them from their allowances if you like
BN wrote:
Bolton now has 16 speed cameras, either fixed at the roadside, or on red lights.
Road safety experts say speed cameras have had an impact in reducing the number of people killed or injured on the roads.
In Bolton, it is estimated that in 39 per cent of all accidents speed is a factor.
Since 2001, the number of serious and fatal accidents in Bolton has been falling. In 2001, there were 84 serious accidents and 11 fatalities, but in 2007 there were 49 serious accidents and four deaths.
I think I have posted up most of these fatals over the past 4 years for Bolton. It has paid off since all point to unlicenced twoccing thugs whom I accept can benefit from education all the same.
BN wrote:
Bolton's principal road safety officer, Trevor Higson, said yesterday: "Although we are currently waiting for validation of the number of people killed or seriously injured on Bolton's roads last year, the figure appears to be the lowest for some 24 years, which reflects the success of the various safety schemes across the borough.
"We anticipate that for 2007 the figure will be 86 and our 2010 Government target is to reduce this to 82.
"Although the reduction is encouraging, we need to continue our top priority efforts to further reduce the number of casualties on our roads."
Bolton's grant from the Department of Transport, through the Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership, for 2008-9 is £47,542.
This will fund a road safety officer in the council's road safety team and schemes about road safety education.
Where the cameras are
Fixed speed cameras in Bolton borough are at the following locations:
Manchester Road near Blackrod bypass, Blackrod (two cameras), 1998, 40mph
Chorley New Road at Lindsay Street, Horwich, 1996, 30mph
Newbrook Road near Firs Road, Over Hulton (two cameras), 2000, 40mph
Wigan Road near Hulton Lane, Deane, 2006, 30mph
Chorley New Road near Somerset Road, Heaton, 1996, 30mph
Blackburn Road, Egerton, 1996, 30mph
Crompton Way near Seymour Road, Astley Bridge, 1996, 40mph
St Peter's Way near Burnden Road, Burnden, 2000, 50mph
St Peter's Way at Moses Gate, 2000, 50mph
St Peter's Way opposite Rowena Street, 2000, 50mph
St Peter's Way near All Saints School, Farnworth, 2000, 50mph
St Peter's Way near Grosvenor Street, Kearsley, 2000, 50mph
Manchester Road near Teak Drive, Kearsley, 1996, 30mph
Bury Road near Torridon Road, Breightmet, 1996, 30mph
9:00am today
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Hit and runs.. twocs. rise in drink/drug drivers per the Bolton press EACH day.. does not mean safety. Colleagues at the Royal Bolton tell me the walk in wounded to SI and even K from traffic incidents tell them a different tale EACH DAY and my focus on two major 'burb urban regionals seem to back this.
The Bolton paper's opinion column is also revealing as the editor states the cams are not the answer.
At first
BN leader comment wrote:
the aim was to slow down drivers. But many beileve a money making gimmick
The increase in fines has not reduced speeds.
There is no excuse for excessive speeding and we do not condone this - but we do not believe speed cameras are the solution o with many drivers just slowing down when they see one!
But if their use is to continue .. then we want to see cash raised used to improve the roads and train to road safety and not fund more cameras
Claire.. contact this paper and get a PR or comment in. Keep Paul's work in the frame here.
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