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Rise in UK speed cameras may soon end

December 15 2005 at 12:19PM

London - The spread of speed cameras across Britain could be about to end after the government signalled changes to the way the cameras, which some motorists say do little to improve road safety, are funded.

Transport Secretary Alistair Darling is expected to outline plans on Thursday that call for revenue raised from drivers fined by the cameras to be used to improve road safety.

At present a proportion of the money accrued from the 6 000 cameras is used to buy new cameras and the surplus is returned to the government.

"I believe it is time to look at the way we fund road safety so that when you have councils and the police looking at a particular site, they consider all options open to them," Darling told BBC radio.

"It might be a junction improvement, it might be the speed limit concerned, it might be a camera," the minister said.

"Under the present system, because of the way they are funded, a camera is, if you like, to the local authority 'free' because we (the government) give them the cost of running it."

Speed or safety cameras as they are also known, have become increasingly common on Britain's roads in recent years but their use is not without controversy.

Although the department for transport has consistently said road deaths and injuries have decreased since their introduction, some motoring groups believe the cameras actually distract drivers' attention from the road by forcing them to constantly look at their speedometers.

The government has acknowledged that public confidence in speed cameras has waned and that many drivers view them simply as revenue generators.

There have even been instances of individual cameras being vandalised.

Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign, said the news the government may rethink its camera policy makes little sense.

"If the department for transport still believed that speed cameras save lives, why don't they continue to blanket the country? Clearly they have realised that speed cameras don't work, but they lack the courage to shut down the greedy camera partnerships."

Smith said speed cameras were a road safety red herring.

"They cost lives because they focus everyone on the wrong safety factor," he said.

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