Safe Speed Forums

Speed cameras await fate
Published on Mon Jan 10 10:59:02 GMT 2011

A DECISION which could see the county’s speed cameras switched off will be made at a meeting next week.

Suffolk county council’s cabinet will be asked to approve plans to cut the funding for the SafeCam partnership on January 11, saving £1.2 million from the authorities budget but potentially switching off the regions speed cameras.

The proposals have left many worried that despite the savings the price paid in road deaths could be much greater.

According to a report prepared for the cabinet, the Suffolk SafeCam Partnership has cut an average of 14 fatalities a year, with the number of people dying on Suffolk roads falling from 60 in 2003, when the partnership was formed, to 19 last year.

Guy McGregor, county councillor with responsibility for transport said that the SafeCam Partnership had been very successful, and hoped it would be able to continue as a service provided by the police.

He added that if more motorists who were caught speeding were to pay for driver training courses as an alternative to going through the courts, enough money could be generated to keep the service going.

A spokesman for Suffolk police said that they would be monitoring the figures over the next three months before deciding whether they could take over funding.

He said: “Whatever the decision, there will still be enforcement of speed limits. If the cameras are switched off we will still have police officers in patrol cars and with speed guns monitoring drivers.”