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PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 15:03 
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It's not online, but the following Safe Speed PR (issued at 14:35 this afternoon) includes the full copy supplied to NotW:

PR544: Speed camera row intensifies...

news: for immediate release

Printed in today's News of the World for the first time are figures from some
of the highest earning speed cameras. (See 'notes for editors' below for
original copy, with full credit.)

Paul Smith, founder of SafeSpeed.org.uk, said: "The row over speed cameras
intensifies daily. No rational person who has properly examined the evidence
can now claim that they have made our roads safer. Department for Transport
(DfT) has gone quiet on the subject - they must know the awful truth, but they
would rather save face than save lives."

"DfT must now come out of their bunker and admit that speed cameras have been a
road safety disaster."

<ends>

Notes for editors
=================

Origin of News of the World story (distributed with permission; fees for
reproduction will be due):

From: CONNOR JOHN PRESS ASSOCIATES

John Connor Press Associates Ltd
Tel: <withheld>, Fax: <withheld>, Email: news@jcpa.co.uk


THE COUNTRY'S most 'flash-happy' speed cameras can be revealed for the
first time - and the top 100 were last year responsible for dishing out a
MILLION penalty points.

A survey has found the top 100 cameras alone coined in more than £18MILLION
in the last 12 months - with one of them snaring a driver every TWO MINUTES.

The investigation using Freedom of Information laws has revealed for the
first time how just a few of the dreaded yellow and grey Gatso cameras have
nabbed so many drivers - and exactly where the busiest cameras are sited.

Overall, 21 Safety Camera Partnerships responded to a request to list their
ten busiest cameras, and 18 also gave the total number of fixed penalty
notices issued.

They revealed which cameras were in their own top ten but refused to say
which ones were responsible for catching the most speeders.

Far from big city areas, it was discovered that the rural county of
WILTSHIRE was the place that speeding motorists should fear most.

In just one year, its top ten cameras issued a staggering 42,417 fixed
penalty notices between them, amounting to £2.5million in fines and some
127,000 penalty points.

Each fine sees drivers forced to cough up £60 - while being hit with three
penalty points.
A 30-mile stretch of the A303 across Salisbury Plain past historic
Stonehenge is included four times in its top ten, with gatsos near
Cholderton, one at the Mere bypass and two near Solstice Park, in Amesbury,

Paul Smith, founder of driving campaign site Safespeed.org.uk, stormed:
"These 100 sites will convince the public that speed cameras are only about
money and never about safety.

"Drivers know - as if by instinct - that speed cameras don't help them drive
more safely."

Second in the speed camera list of shame was Essex, where motorists nipping
through its ten busiest fixed camera sites were handed a total of 35,859
notices in just 12 months.

The gaze of its top ten flash-happy lenses - which raked in some £2.1million
in fines and left motorists with more than 90,000 penalty points - takes in
many busy stretches including the M11.

The ten busiest cameras each in Leicestershire, Greater Manchester, London,
Lancashire, Northumbria, West Mercia, Cheshire, and South Wales make up the
rest.

All in all, these top 100 sites issued 312,995 fixed penalties in only 365
days. Set at £60, they hit motorists in the pocket to the tune of just over
£18MILLION.

Our 'worst 100' also shows how motorists wishing to avoid a speeding ban
should avoid certain stretches of road that are peppered with some of the
busiest cameras.

Both the A127, near Southend, in Essex, and the A37 in Leicester, had three
fixed camera sites in the list - showing how drivers using the main A-routes
are targeted.

While motorway drivers need to keep their foot off the accelerator along the
M4, near Leigh Delamere Services, in Wiltshire, as well as a stretch of the
same motorway through South Wales. Also featuring on the list was the M11
southbound near Chigwell, in Essex.

The average yearly income for each of the busiest 100 cameras works out as
around £180,000.

Campaigner Paul Smith added: "The truth is, I believe, that speed cameras
were well intentioned but flawed.

"We all know it's important that people don't drive 'too fast', but neither
the speed limit nor the speed camera really knows what 'too fast' is. No
wonder they've been a disaster as far as road safety policy.

"They have been so awful, in fact, that we won't get road safety back on
track until every last one of them has been scrapped."

The statistics were revealed just days after the speed camera programme was
thrown into disarray after the Government admitted its casualty calculations
could be flawed.

The UK is now watched by more than 6,000 fixed and mobile cameras, which the
Department for Transport justifies by insisting they have cut the number of
deaths and serious injuries on the road.

But while police data showed casualty rates fell between 1996 and 2004,
hospital data showed they had risen.

The DfT is now re-evaluating how it calculates its statistics. In total, the
cameras raised £114.6 million in fines in 2005-06.

Any surplus cash, not used by the Safety Camera Partnerships, is ploughed
back into Government.

Overall, 21 Safety Camera Partnerships provided a complete response to the
request, listing their ten busiest cameras, and the total number of fixed
penalty notices issued.

Nine areas refused to answer the questions - which were Cambridge, Cumbria,
Devon & Cornwall, Dorset, Hampshire, Northampton, Suffolk, Surrey and the
Thames Valley.
We have now issued appeals to them all.

A further seven areas, have still failed to provide a response, despite the
Freedom on Information deadline passing, while Cleveland's results could not
be included, as it has only three camera sites.


TOP 100 CAMERAS
(These are the areas with the highest total of fixed penalty notices from
their ten busiest sites)
(Number of fixed penalty notices in brackets)
1. Wiltshire (42,417)
2. Essex (35,859)
3. South Wales (35,213)
4. Leicestershire (32,549)
5. Greater Manchester (29,805)
6. London (28,621)
7. Lancashire (28,467)
8. Northumbria (27,851)
9. West Mercia (27,423)
10. Cheshire (24,790)



OTHER CAMERAS PARTNERSHIPS
11. Nottinghamshire (23,785)
12. Lincolnshire: (20,169)
13. Warwickshire: (20,153)
14. Staffordshire: (18,909)
15. Kent: (17,799)
16. Bedfordshire: (17,476)
17. Derbyshire: (15,490)
18. Gloucestershire: (9,569)



List of sites:
1. Wiltshire - A36, South Newton; A338 Pennings Road, Tidworth; A303 (w/b)
Nr Solstice Park, Amesbury; A303 (e/b) Nr Solstice Park, Amesbury; A303 Nr
Cholderton; A36 Btw Crockerton & Heytesbury; A303 Mere bypass; A419 Swindon
(roadworks both directions); M4 nr Leigh Delamere services.

2. Essex - A1016 Waterhouse Lane, Chelmsford; A12 Colchester bypass; A127
Arterial Road, Eastwood; A127 Southend Arterial Road, Leigh on Sea nr
junction Oakwood Av; A127 Southend Arterial Road, Leigh, direction of
Southend; A414 Maldon Road, Danbury; B1383 High Street, Epping; Cowdray Av,
Colchester; M11 s/b Chigwell.

3. South Wales - Leckwith Road, Cardiff; A473 Coychurch By Pass, Bridgend;
A483 Fabian Way, Jersey Marine, Neath Port Talbot; A483 Fabian Way, St.
Thomas, Swansea; M4 between Jnc 34 Miskin and Jnc 35 Pencoed; M4 between Jnc
33 Capel Llanilltern & Jnc 34 Miskin; North Road, Cardiff (southbound); A48
Eastern Avenue, Cardiff; M4 Junction 40 Port Talbot (eastbound); M4 Junction
41 Port Talbot (westbound).

4. Leicestershire - A426 Aylestone Road, Leicester; A47 King Richards Road
(Eastbound), Leicester; A6 London Road, Kegworth; A47 King Richards Road
(Westbound), Leicester; A6 London Road (Highfield Street), Leicester; A4304
Station Road, North Kilworth; A563 Soar Valley Way/Lubbesthorpe Way (red
light camera), Enderby; A594 Tigers Way (Northbound), Leicester; A47
Uppingham Road, Leicester; A594 Welford Road, Leicester.

5. Greater Manchester - Bury New Road, Bury; Cross Street, Trafford; A6048
Featherstall Road, Oldham; A62 Oldham Road, Manchester; A56 Peel Way, Bury;
A5103 Princess Road, Manchester; A664 Rochdale Road, Manchester; Washway
Road, Trafford; Wellington Road North, Stockport; Wilmslow Road, Manchester.

6. London - A13 Newham Way East, E6; A40 Western Avenue, Ruislip; A40
Western Avenue, W5; Bow Road, E3; Bromley Common, BR2; Camden Road, N7;
Gravel Hill, CRO; Hillside, NW10; Limehouse Link Tunnel E14; Woolwich Church
Street, SE18.

7. Lancashire - A583 Preston New Road, nr Clifton Avenue, Blackpool; A5209
Parbold Hill, Parbold; A59 Liverpool Road, Penwortham; A5230 Squires Gate
(e/b), Blackpool; A5230 Squires Gate (w/b), Blackpool; A677 Preston New
Road, Blackburn; A681 Haslingden Road, Rawtenstall; A583 Preston New Road nr
Lomand Avenue, Blackpool; M55 (e/b and w/b) Treales.

8. Northumbria - A1 Seaton Burn Roadworks (S), Northumberland; A1058 Jesmond
Road, Newcastle; A1290 Keir Hardie Way, Sunderland; A167 Durham Road,
Gateshead; A184 (Burlison Gardens), Gateshead; A69 Haydon Bridge,
Northumberland; A692 Watergate Bank, Gateshead; B1296 Sheriffs Highway,
Gateshead; B1318 Great North Road, Newcastle; Springwell Road, Sunderland.

9. West Mercia - A5 at Shotatton near Shrewsbury, westbound; A40 at
Pencraig, southbound; A44 New Road, Worcester, westbound; A451 Minster Road,
Stourport-on-Severn, northbound; A458 at Much Wenlock, Shropshire,
south-eastbound; A465, Aylestone Hill, Hereford, southbound; A4184
Cheltenham Road, Evesham, northbound; B4386 Mytton Oak Road, Shrewsbury,
westbound; B5061 Bennetts Bank, Wellington, Telford, eastbound; B5061
Holyhead Road, Ketley, Telford, westbound.

10. Cheshire - A49 Wilderspool Causeway, Warrington; A49 Winwick Rd,
Junction Owen St, Warrington; A5117 Junction Pool Lane, Elton Green (Red
light camera); A523 The Silk Road, Macclesfield (Red light camera); A556
Chester Road, Sandiway, Northwich -> Chester; A556 Chester Road, Sandiway,
Northwich,Manchester; A557 Weston Point Expressway, Runcorn; A56 Hoole Rd,
Chester; A57 Liverpool Rd, Warrington; M56 Westbound Junctions 12-14
(Roadworks camera).


ends.....

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 01:34 
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Quote:
Nine areas refused to answer the questions - which were Cambridge, Cumbria, Devon & Cornwall, Dorset, Hampshire, Northampton, Suffolk, Surrey and the
Thames Valley.


Why am I not surprised!!! :lol: Couldn't think up a lie quick enough I suppose! :roll:
I'll just add it to the list of unanswered questions then! 8-)

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PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 07:40 
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Location: Hampshire/Wiltshire Border
Yes, I note the non-repliers are some of the perceived worst offenders in the safety partnership racket.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 11:33 
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I thought the FOI act meant they HAD to reply, how come they are above this law and can refuse to reply? If they are allowed to be above this law, how on earth do they get away with applying a flawed law so rigidly... ridiculous!


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