Safe Speed Forums

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... altop.html

The £1.2m M4 speed trap

By Richard Savill
(Filed: 04/07/2005)

Two temporary speed cameras on the M4 have clocked up £1.2 million in fines in two months. More than 20,000 motorists - the equivalent of one driver every five minutes - have been caught exceeding the 40 mph limit at roadworks near the Bath junction since the middle of April.

The Avon and Somerset Safety Camera Partnership said the cameras were put up to protect workers building a £10.7 million crawler lane, which is due to be completed in January.

But Paul Smith, an anti-speed camera campaigner who organised an M4 go-slow protest in April, said the speed cameras were "about making money".

He said: "What we have got with this system is cash-hungry quangos with wage bills to pay and plans to implement and they live on fine income.

"Nobody wants to see road workers injured, everyone wants to see these projects executed efficiently, sensibly and with a minimum of risk. But I wouldn't mind betting that most of the time those drivers were issued tickets, there were no road workers on the motorway."

Anyone breaking the 40mph limit risks an automatic £60 fine and three points on their licence. Of the 20,000 motorists caught by the two cameras on either side of the carriageway, 2,100 were driving at speeds high enough for them to be taken to court.

The figures were disclosed after the camera on the westbound carriageway was set on fire shortly before 1am last Wednesday. It has been replaced.

Sgt Mel Small, of the road policing unit at Avon and Somerset police, who works with the Safety Camera Partnership, said the number of drivers breaking the limit was "frightening".

He said: "Because the work involves closing carriageways and contraflows on the motorway, we have imposed the temporary 40 mph speed limit.

The limit has been set at 40 mph rather than 50 mph, because the narrow lanes and heavy traffic are said to pose a particular risk to workers.

If motorists continue to be caught at the present rate, it is estimated that 70,000 will receive tickets by the end of the year, totalling £4 million in fines.

So far this year, four workers across Britain have been killed and four seriously injured when hit by vehicles during motorway roadworks.
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That's a pretty sloppy interpretation of what I said...

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

So the obvious question is, if 20,000 drivers have been speeding in excess of the trigger speed, and 2,100 of those were excessively so (probably just doing 70), how many workmen have been injured or killed as a result? How many accidents in the zone in question have involved vehicles exceeding 40mph?

If the answer to both questions is none, then I think there might be a slight suggestion that the limits and their strict enforcement might be slightly excessive.

But that is 20,000 more people that will have been converted....

Ah , yes Rewolf, but 20,000 x £60 generated - enough to pay for the roadworks, perhaps, or at least for some new Barvarian special cars for the trafpols ( and the CC& ACC), and the wages for their drivers for the next year.( pardon the cynical grin) - pity that the trafpols don't get a pay rise out of it.

I'd like to see the exact circumstances under which the workers were hit and killed.

When we brief our lads (on roadworks jobs) we hammer home the fact that they MUST NOT step outside the cones and they must be ever vigilant that they don't accidentally do so, particulary when there are changes in the TM due to switches etc. Some don't listen.

I would imagine that the highest risk category are the Traffic Management lads who actually set out the cones.

Also we must remember that a worker killed on a minor works site in town, scaffolder etc would probably fall into the category.

I've been driving through that section recently and I can't see any justification for the 40mph limit.

Having said that.....on a recent project of ours we pushed for a 30mph limit (urban D/C). Nothing to do with safety per say but at 30 you don't need such large cones, safety zones between works and live traffic etc etc. Not sure if there are differences between 50mph and 40mph in terms of regulation and TM specs but I would certainly start there as a reason for the limit.

Or, there has been some sort of trade off whereby the contractor has asked for a concession of some description which was used as an excuse for 40mph.

Now, if that is the case I suspect there may be a case for a legal challenge to the limits on the grounds that they are for contractor convenience rather than worker safety.

I found some FoI stuff that suggested that speed limits of 50mph and above must have protection from impact and be limited in size. It appears that this is causing problems for example where NSLs are being replaced with 50s.

there are problems where they use the huge yellow backed signs with a 'inbred villagers welcome slow drivers' type message and do not incorporate crash protection features.

"So far this year, four workers across Britain have been killed and four seriously injured when hit by vehicles during motorway roadworks.""

So far this year I wonder how many have been killed on Iraq's roads ?

and do they state that they were killed because of over the speed limit? even 40mph kills, so if they got in the way of the oncomming vehcles they would have been killed regardless of the speed.