http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/ ... ory=522201
Tell the truth and shame the speed cameras
17 May 2004
AS the number of speed cameras in use across Northern Ireland increases I think that it is time for a bit of honesty from the police. We need to know why motorists are being persecuted in the name of road safety when both the Government and the police know the case for these cameras (and general concentration on speeding offences) is based on a lie.
A new 56-page paper for the Department of Transport makes clear that "excessive speed" accounts for only 12.5% of accidents in the UK.
Indeed, Avon and Somerset Police (the only force breaking down excessive speed into smaller categories), reveal that 70% of "excessive speed" accidents occur within the speed limit!
This suggests that only 3.75% of accidents on UK roads involve exceeding the speed limit!
Further, Paul Smith, of the Safe Speed Campaign states that in many "excessive speed" accidents, there is a further contributory cause such as drink, drugs or joyriding in a stolen car.
The main causes of accidents in the UK are:
Inattention, 25.8%; failure to judge another's path or speed, 22.6%; looked but did not see, 19.7%; behaviour (careless, reckless, thoughtless), 18.4%.
Excessive speed comes in at number 7 on 12.5% (or is it actually 3.75%?).
But it gets worse. While the number of speeding convictions continues to rise prosecutions for careless driving have fallen by more than 7%.
Our roads are becoming less, not more, safe through the blanket use of speed cameras and the police concentration on speeding as the number one causes of accidents.
This belief is not true and is known by both the police and Government not to be true.
So, are speed cameras really for revenue generation and not road safety? I for one believe they are.
S. CONNOR, Belfast 6.
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