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Statistical snapshot on speed cameras
TIM LENTON
Devotees of speed cameras are keen to tell anyone willing to listen that the one-eyed monsters have reduced road casualties. Official figures tend to support this, but there is strong evidence that those figures are misleading.
What? Misleading statistics from government? How can this be?
Well, if I were to be cynical, I might suggest that if you have a draconian policy to fine and eventually ban drivers who exceed speed limits, it would be helpful to have figures showing that this policy reduced road casualties.
But maybe there is another explanation. Maybe it's an accident. Maybe, unexpectedly, police accident report figures are simply not reliable.
Who defines a “serious” injury, for instance? This is quite important, because it is the serious injury figures - rather than deaths - which are supposed to be showing a marked downward trend.
Two independent university studies may have the answer, because they both show that, based on much more reliable hospital admissions data, serious injuries from road accidents are not falling at all over the era of speed camera infestation.
It is already generally admitted that over this period, deaths have shown no marked fall. In 1996 they were 3598, and although they have slipped into the 3400s since then, in 2003, as camera use spread, they were back up again to 3508. When compared to the ongoing plunge in deaths before cameras got a hold - from 5589 in 1984 to 4568 in 1991 and 3650 in 1994 - this is shamefully poor, given the improvement in car safety engineering and medical care over the last decade.
So it is clear that cameras are not making our roads safer. It is hard to see how a measure that basically targets safe drivers could possibly do so.
We all want to curb excessive speed, but not at the expense of ignoring other dangerous practices, and making people think that they are skilful drivers purely because they are “obeying the law”.
The foreword to the new Philips Road Atlas, released last month, says that speed cameras are “badly managed, confusing and ineffective”. They are not making our roads safer and should be marked for disposal.
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