Safe Speed Forums

Call to refund motorists caught on Holes Bay Road camera
By James Morton- 7:00pm Monday 2nd August 2010

FINES and points generated by Poole’s controversial £1m speed camera should be wiped, a campaigner has claimed.
Ian Belchamber, fromDorset Speed, said the justification for the camera’s status was not credible and it should be deactivated.

Annette Brooke, MP for Mid-Dorset and North Poole, has also quizzed the Dorset Safety Camera Partnership (DCSP) over the level of income generated by the device at Holes Bay.

The Daily Echo revealed last month that the speed on green camera was on course to make more than £1m in its first year of operation.
DCSP said the reason the camera was installed was not for the purposes of accident reduction but because of “community concerns”.

In an email to DCSP, Mr Belchamber said: “Is the objective road safety or is it just to punish those disobeying arbitrary rules?
“All I ask is that you provide a credible, unconfused justification which stands up to scrutiny.
“If this really is not possible, you have no choice but to attempt to restore some trust and confidence by immediately deactivating this camera and reversing the fines and points it has created.”

Responding to a Freedom of Information request, DSCP expanded on “community concern” by stating it had received emails from residents who raised worries over speeding along the road.
DCSP also said all the money generated by the camera went to the Treasury.
The camera, at the junction of Holes Bay Road and Sterte Avenue, was originally installed to catch drivers jumping red lights.
It now flashes drivers passing through above the 30mph limit, even when the lights are green.

In its first four months as a speed on green device, the camera caught more than 7,000 drivers, raking in £108,000 a month.