Safe Speed Forums

http://www.spaldingtoday.co.uk/ViewArti ... ID=1825902

Speed cameras are cutting road death toll

WHENEVER you mention safety cameras there will always be someone who complains, but how much do we really know about what they achieve?
Lincolnshire now has 49 permanent cameras, 11 of which are in the Lincolnshire Free Press circulation area, five mixed speed camera sites, one of which is in our area, and 19 mobile camera sites, two of which are in our area.
The cameras, which are operated in a partnership between the county council, Lincolnshire Police, Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership, the Highways Agency, Lincolnshire Magistrates' Courts and the NHS, always attract criticism, with people claiming they are simply a money making scheme put in place to catch drivers out, but the figures show that is not the case.
At the camera sites across the county the number of personal injury collisions has reduced by an average of 32 per cent, while the number of people killed or seriously injured in collisions at the sites has dropped by an average of 55 per cent.
As for making money, each camera costs £36,000 to install and £6,000 a year to use and maintain due to the special wet film.
And cameras cannot just be put up anywhere – the sites have to meet criteria in terms of the number of collisions, serious injuries and deaths before a camera is put up in a bid to cut the carnage.
In 2004/2005 the cameras cost £1,639,843 and caught 27,447 speeders.
Each speeder paid a £60 fine, totalling £1,646,820, leaving an excess of £6,977, which was retained by Her Majesty's Treasurer.
Lincolnshire has consistently been one of the worst counties for road deaths, but many people do not realise that each fatality costs £1,514,943 due to the investigations and processes.
Last year saw 69 deaths, the lowest since the road safety partnership started monitoring in 1985.
In 2004 78 people died, and in 2003 104 lives were lost.
Brian Porter, chairman of the partnership's board, said: "There are still too many fatalities and injuries on Lincolnshire's roads, and there is always room for improvement.
"Traffic volumes continue to increase, and this brings additional challenges for the partnership, and for everyone who uses our roads."
Statistics show only 24.6 per cent of accidents are caused by excessive speed, but Insp Andy McManus, head of casualty reduction, said it is a factor in far more accidents.
He added: "Safety cameras are doing the job they are meant to do.
"They are not just a cash grabbing scheme or there to catch people out.
"We publish the location of every camera in the county.
"They are there to save lives and prevent collisions and that is what they are achieving."
The Government has set strict targets and by 2010 Lincolnshire must have reduced the number of people killed or seriously injured in collisions by 40 per cent, the number of children killed or seriously injured by 50 per cent and the number of people slightly injured to ten per cent.

RTTM again:
"At the camera sites across the county the number of personal injury collisions has reduced by an average of 32 per cent, while the number of people killed or seriously injured in collisions at the sites has dropped by an average of 55 per cent."

Meanwhile at the crossroads nearbye the accident rate ---oh hang on ,don't quote that , unless it's gone down .

It's only camera sites that interest us ( well where else could we make money, buckets of it -- )

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

A what?




Plus the JSA the government doesn't have to pay out as a result of the SCP creating vacancies that otherwise wouldn't exist, plus the taxes and NI deducted from the SCP employee wages, plus the VAT on all the stuff they're now able to buy as a result of not scraping by on JSA, plus the taxes on their savings interest, plus all the other various small and not so small ways the government rakes in cash from anyone who dares to earn any sort of wage...





According to Lincs Police, the figures for 1999-2004 are:

1999 104
2000 72
2001 88
2002 93
2003 104
2004 77

Also according to that page, the LRSP was set up in mid-2000, which means that in its first 3 full years of operation it oversaw a year on year rise in fatalities... now why wasn't that included in this stats-fest of an article, I wonder


Edited to add:

The ABD site has figures going back to 1993, which paint an even less flattering picture of the LRSP...




27,447 caught over 2 years is an average of 1 every 38.3 minutes... doesn't sound to me like they're doing the job very well.

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Chris

RESPOND!!!

Send a letter to the editor. You can do it online if you find the "contact us" link.
Ask why they just cut and pasted the SCP press release, without investigating the facts.
Somebody tell them about RTTM - there was'nt room in my response!

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

Done!

I tried to keep my response brief but the more I looked into the article the more I found.

I will post any responses - assuming there are any!