http://motoring.aol.co.uk/speed-cameras ... 2609990010
note the vote
Currently 92% = make money; 8% = save lives
Speed cameras 'are blank cheque books'
A leading speed camera supplier's reported claims that the devices are "a blank cheque book" to raise cash for the Government have been dismissed by the Department for Transport.
It is alleged bosses of hand-held camera specialists Tele-Traffic told an undercover reporter for a national newspaper that the roadside network was aimed at making "buckets of money".
The comments, reported in the Mail on Sunday, are "just simply untrue", a DfT spokesman said.
"There is clear proof that safety cameras save lives and deliver substantial reductions in accidents and casualties to both drivers and pedestrians," he said.
"We have been very clear that, in our view, the best safety camera is the one that issues no fines because it is doing its job of reducing speed."
Warwickshire-based Tele-Traffic describes itself as a "pioneer" in the laser technology used for enforcing speeding laws.
The company says it serves more than 97 per cent of UK police forces and the whole of Ireland.
But its bosses are alleged to have made a series of unguarded remarks about the controversial cameras' money-making potential.
The UK's network of sites for the static and mobile surveillance equipment raises millions of pounds in fines every year.
Tele-Traffic bosses reportedly told the undercover reporter, posing as an agent for an Eastern European firm, that setting up cameras in new areas was the equivalent of having "a blank cheque book".
They guaranteed "when you first set up you will have lots of offences, you will have bucketfuls", reports the Mail on Sunday.
Tele-Traffic chief Jon Bond, a former police Chief Superintendent in charge of speed cameras in Warwickshire, is quoted as saying: "There will be so much money coming in you won't know what to do with it."
It is claimed he and his partners encouraged the journalist to site any cameras they bought where they could to catch "businessmen in the morning and school-run mums in the afternoon".
One motoring lobby group called for an investigation into speed cameras.
Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign, said: "I believe that the revelations in the Mail on Sunday are just the tip of the iceberg. It is a glimpse inside a secret society where the law and its enforcement are managed for profit."
Under a shake-up of road safety funding, from next April local authorities will be given an increased sum of money to spend "how they see fit", said the DfT.
The spokesman added: "The operation of safety cameras in this country produces a net sum of around £20 million a year, which is a small contribution to public funds and a rather inefficient way to raise finance, given the complexity.
"Safety cameras play a key role in reducing 'killed or seriously injured' by over 1,700 a year.''
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