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Speed cameras 'don't stop rogue drivers'
Sunday October 8, 2006
The Observer

Tories to call for harsher penalties as a better way of improving road safety

The rise of speed cameras is to blame for an epidemic of uninsured, unlicensed drivers, senior Tories have claimed as they launch a campaign for tougher jail sentences for rogue drivers.
Motorists find it too easy to drive without insurance now that traffic laws are more often enforced by cameras than by human traffic patrols, shadow transport spokesman Chris Grayling said.

And he blamed the rise in 'hit-and-run' accidents - up 30 per cent since 1997 - on the increasing number of drivers reluctant to stop after a crash because they are not legally entitled to be on the road. When the Commons returns tomorrow, the Tories will try to amend the road safety bill to increase the sentence for deliberately fleeing the scene of an accident to a maximum of 14 years.

Grayling's words came as John Redwood, head of a policy commission appointed by Tory leader David Cameron to examine economic competitiveness, called for a cull of speed bumps. The Tories will also campaign for stiffer sentences for those who call for help but do not wait for it to arrive - often because they are drunk - which would leave them subject to the same penalty as anyone convicted of drink driving. They also want those who repeatedly drive without insurance to have their cars crushed, and uninsured drivers to be automatically disqualified.
The government yesterday insisted there were more traffic police than before, and that new technological advances, such as the ability to check a numberplate against the DVLA database to establish whether a driver was registered, had made the roads safer. However, research in London, obtained by the Lib Dems last week, showed that up to one in eight drivers in the capital should not be on the roads, and that illegal drivers were nine times more likely than others to crash.

Grayling said the consequences of unauthorised drivers could be severe, citing the recent case of Andrew Bennett, who was jailed after he crashed his car and refused to seek medical help for his girlfriend because he was a banned driver. She subsequently died. 'There is a clear link in my mind: I attribute the number of hit-and-run accidents to the number of people who are operating outside the law,' he added. Grayling said that the problem was exacerbated by speed cameras: 'If you have got someone on the road in a knackered car, without a licence and insurance, having a speed camera by the side of the road makes no sense at all because it can't stop them.'

Ministers will argue that they do not wish to restrict the courts by making disqualification mandatory for drivers caught without insurance. About two million people drive without insurance, according to government research.

Speed cameras generated more than £114 million in fines last year. Figures show that most drivers' speed had dropped as the number of cameras increased.

John Redwood said traffic issues would be a key part of his report, due next summer, insisting that the current road network put economic growth at risk: 'I'm not saying all speed bumps are bad. But the aim has to be to remove them where they are not necessary.'

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/conserva ... 67,00.html

A correct description of the symptoms, but a wrong view of the solution - the answer is not harsher penalties but better and more intelligent enforcement.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

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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