http://www.kentonsunday.co.uk/news/news.asp
It was KoS that reported a while back that something like 3/4 of Kent's MPs have speeding points on their licenses. It must've made one or two of them think. Now this - another glimmer of hope for saner road safety policies.
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THE NUMBER of people killed at road black-spots in Kent has barely changed since the introduction of speed cameras, Kent on Sunday can reveal.
..Camera managers in the county admit they are disappointed by the poor results, while a senior county MP said the devices didn’t work and called for more traffic police.
..In a progress report to the county council this week the Kent and Medway Safety Camera Partnership revealed 118 people were killed or seriously injured in 19 months at 96 of its 124 camera sites.
..This compares with an average of 162 deaths and serious injuries per year before the partnership was set up in 2002 – a fall of 54 per cent, it said.
..But closer scrutiny of the figures by KoS showed that while there were fewer minor accidents, the number of road deaths near speed cameras had hardly changed. There were 12 road deaths at camera sites in the 19 months after the partnership took over running the county’s traps – compared with 33 in the previous three years.
..Chris Rogers, project manager for the partnership, agreed the figures were disappointing. “I cannot deny that,” he said.
..“The number of fatalities across the county is staying fairly stubborn and not going down as much as other serious accidents at camera sites. It’s not as encouraging as we would like. We will hope in time that this turns out to be just a blip.”
..Three children and seven pedestrians died on Kent and Medway’s roads in the
19-month period – July 2002 to February 2004 – compared with three children and 10 pedestrians for the entire three years beforehand.
..Meanwhile, overall road death statistics for Kent and Medway reveal little is different for the last three years. Figures from Kent Police show that 103 people were killed on the county’s roads last year, compared with 112 the year before and 107 in 2001.
..And Mr Rogers said that the number of motorcyclists dying in road accidents in Kent was actually rising.
..Damian Green, MP for Ashford and the Conservatives’ transport spokesman, said the figures showed speed cameras didn’t work and the UK’s entire road safety system should be revised.
..“The Kent figures reflect the national trend, where actually road deaths have started increasing slightly after years of steady decline. The sad truth is that in terms of deaths on the road the cameras are proving ineffective.
..“What we need to do is to have a much more all-embracing approach that takes in junction design and use of active traffic policing against the most dangerous drivers.
..“Over-reliance on speed cameras actually means we are in danger of taking our eye off the ball. We have got an unbalanced system.”
..Nationally, the number of road deaths rose last year from 3,431 in 2002 to 3,508, according to a report published last month by the Department for Transport.
..Earlier this week the Kent camera partnership hailed a progress report given to Kent County Council’s highways advisory board as a success story.
..Presenting crash data for 96 of its 124 fixed and mobile camera sites in Kent and Medway – because figures for the 28 newer Gatsos are not ready yet – the partnership said there was a 54 per cent drop in the number of people killed or seriously injured on Kent’s roads.
..Rachel Moon, communications and promotions officer for the partnership, said: “It is so encouraging to see that there has been such a large reduction in the number of people being killed or seriously injured on our county’s roads.
..“Safety cameras are a vital part in the bigger road safety picture. Through the use of these cameras at speed-related crash sites and continued road safety education and publicity into the dangers of speeding we will reduce this wasted cost to the community. “We will also reduce the misery and suffering of hundreds of families in Kent and Medway who are involved in speed related crashes every year.”
..She added that a fatal crash has been estimated to cost a community £1 million, while the NHS pays £100,000 on average to treat an injury resulting from a high-speed collision.
..The Kent and Medway Safety Camera Partnership is made up of Kent Police, Kent County Council, Medway Council, the Highways Agency and Kent Magistrates Courts Service.
..Earlier this year it launched the Handle It Or Lose It campaign in Kent to improve road safety among motorcyclists, who account for 18 per cent of serious accidents in the county. Twenty-four were killed in Kent last year.
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