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Government Cuts Hit More Speed Camera Budgets
Article by: robert Date: 17 Oct 2010

This week sees more cameras being mothballed due to the government's stringent budget cuts.

Although many counties have decided to keep there speed cameras, and indeed many new cameras are still been erected across the country, BBC Lincolnshire reports that a digital upgrade of Lincolnshire's damaged cameras is on hold pending the outcome of the government's spending review next month. This is despite more than a quarter of speed cameras on the county's roads being out of action, many as a result of being set on fire or vandalism.

This is Wiltshire confirmed that both fixed speed cameras and mobile speed cameras are no longer operating in Wiltshire. This follows the announcement back in August that the switch-off would happen in October as a direct result of government spending cuts. Speed enforcement in Wiltshire will now be carried out by Wiltshire's traffic police alongside volunteers in Community Speed Watch schemes.

The Blackburn Citizen has reported that speed cameras in Lancashire that do not cut accidents will be axed.

They say that at least 30, possibly as much as 40, of Lancashire's speed cameras are set to be turned off because they fail to reduce accidents. Tim Ashton, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport at Lancashire County Council, said the results of a review of every single camera in the county were ‘imminent’.

The axed cameras would remain in place with a bag placed over them, presumably because of the expense to dismantle them. Although a number of cameras around the country have been turned off, many have been left uncovered as a visual deterrent to speeders and many are destined to be switched back on dependant on increases in future grants.