http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/7543
NEW SPEED CAMERAS TO ZAP ANOTHER 2M DRIVERS
By Gabriel Milland
NEW digital speed cameras are set to double the number of drivers caught to four million a year.
The latest devices have a huge capacity to store images, which means every motorist snapped speeding will face a £60 fine and three penalty points on their licence.
Current cameras need to have their film replaced after taking around 200 pictures.
This means that many drivers who are flashed by the cameras escape being caught because their image has not actually been caught on film.
But the £10,000 digital Gatsos have a virtually unlimited capacity.
Experts believe the new equipment could double the number of motorists getting caught from the current two million a year.
That would raise the Treasury’s income from the cameras by £120million a year.
The new cameras will also be able to send pictures wirelessly to the authorities – as well as bringing with them number-plate recognition technology which can alert the police if a suspect vehicle passes.
They can monitor up to four lanes of traffic simultaneously.
Around 1,000 of the new digital cameras have already been deployed. Others are expected to gradually replace the 4,000 ordinary Gatsos still in place.
Edmund King, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “There’s no doubt that some motorists play Russian roulette with cameras, taking a chance that they’ve run out of film. That will obviously change if they go digital.” Since last month, money raised through fines has gone straight to the Treasury rather than to local councils and police forces who install the cameras and decide their positioning.
The switch was supposed to show that local officials were not just installing the cameras to boost their own budgets.
Paul Smith, founder of drivers’ pressure group SafeSpeed, offered motorists some comfort.
He said the high cost of the new cameras – and the fact money wouldn’t flow back to councils and police forces from extra fines – would make many local authorities reluctant to upgrade cameras.
He said: “I urge police and local authorities not to waste important road safety funding on this final phase.”
Meanwhile so many otherwise law-abiding motorists are getting caught by speed cameras that some insurance companies have said they will no longer automatically raise insurance premiums for drivers with a handful of penalty points.
Neil Ackinclose, of insurance brokers Swinton Specialist, said: “A few years ago insurers might have assumed a motorist with six or more points was a reckless driver, but that is no longer necessarily the case. Insurance providers are accepting that points alone can no longer be used as a yardstick for driver evaluation.”
Motoring groups point out that speed cameras do nothing to stop drunk drivers and little to help catch uninsured, untaxed or unroadworthy cars. A rise in drivers caught speeding – adding points to their licences – would also lead to more disqualifications and a possible rise in uninsured drivers if motorists ignore bans, they say.
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1,000 deployed? I don't think so! As I understand it they are still awaiting type approval.
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