Safe Speed Forums

http://www.cumbriasafetycameras.org/pre ... elease.doc

Press release Monday April 7
Cumbria Partnership Launches Safety Cameras Campaign
Drive To Reduce Road Deaths & Injuries by 15%

A county-wide initiative to reduce road deaths and injuries through the use of safety cameras is launched today (Monday, April 7). Cumbria County Council, Cumbria Constabulary, The Highways Agency and the Cumbria Magistrates Courts Service have come together as the Cumbria Road Casualty Reduction Partnership to cut the number of killed and seriously injured resulting from road collisions on identified routes by 15% over a three year period.

“Due to the geographical nature of Cumbria, the partnership intends to make use of mobile camera units operated by police officers at 47 identified locations that account for 76% of all reported injury collisions, “commented Councillor Kevan Wilkinson, Chairman of the project steering group.

“’Loss of control’ collisions are a common factor, strengthening the belief that excessive or inappropriate speed has been involved, continued Councillor Wilkinson. “Analysis of speed and traffic flow also indicates that there is a high level of offending taking place at sites of known collision history. The purpose of the project is to raise awareness of the dangers of excessive speed or abuse of speed limits at these sites by maintaining a well publicised and high profile presence of the safety cameras,” he added.

Steve Callaghan, Safety Camera Project Manager stated: “It must be stressed from the outset that this campaign is about safety and not income generation. As in previous road safety campaigns, its aim is to effect a change in public attitude to speeding.

“The Cumbria Road Casualty Reduction Partnership will achieve this through the deployment of highly visible Safety Camera Vehicles throughout the county,” added Mr Callaghan. “To further counter the commonly held fear of covert cameras, advance warning signs will be deployed within a kilometre of accident hot-spots when camera teams are operating."

He went on to state that the project will establish a dedicated web site and publish a schedule of where the cameras will be over a specific period. This information will also be passed on to local newspapers and broadcast media for publication.

“Stories have abounded about profits being made from the fines collected from the speeding motorist. These are simply not true,” added Mr Callaghan. “The Cumbria Road Casualty Reduction Partnership has invested significant funds and effort into the deployment of safety cameras to improve conditions on the county’s roads. The funds already invested, along with operating costs, can be reclaimed if we prove we are operating the cameras to achieve the objectives of the partnership, no extra money over and above these costs can be claimed.”

Belief that the project will have the support of a majority of Cumbrian residents is boosted by a study carried out during February 2003 that demonstrates that the majority of the general public firmly believes that the use of safety cameras will reduce traffic related injuries on the county’s roads.

Feedback from more than 800 people who responded to the Citizens Panel survey revealed that:

71% agreed or strongly agreed that fewer accidents were likely to happen where safety cameras were installed;

79% agreed or strongly agreed that safety cameras were to encourage motorists to stick to speed limits and not to punish them;

72.7% agreed or strongly agreed that the primary aim of safety cameras was to save lives.

Note to editors: Contacts:

Steve Callaghan Safety Cameras Manager 01768 217630
Email: steve.callaghan@Cumbria.police.uk

Kevin Tea PR Manager 01768 217791
Email: kevin.tea@Cumbria.police.uk

Unbelievable, they're referring back to a 4-year-old survey because the results of it were better than more recent surveys...

What are they using as the reference year?

I believe that just recently the Ks have gone up but the KSIs have gone down (by roughly the same ratio) – not an indication of a working policy. However, the KSIs outweigh the Ks by a factor of around 10, so the sum total has decreased – this is what they are now using as the indicator of the performance of their policy.
Sneaky huh?

This is just like their older trick of categorising ‘too fast for the conditions’ and ‘exceeding the speed limit’ under the description of ‘speeding’.

LOL, when I was typing this I hadn’t even read the next part........







Well of course he would say that

Did you notice his job title, there is no indication of the word “police”, so why the email address: Email- steve.callaghan@Cumbria.police.uk


So if they were doing their jobs properly, no-one could possibly be caught – right?


Attitudes have shifted a lot since then, partly thanks to
Perhaps they should read up on the much more recent survey compiled by the independent and professional data capture and analysis organisation Datamonitor


edit: some of the formatting didn't work

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Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

Can you please remind us of the link.

I have written to the Chief Executive Peter Stybelski
Cumbria County Council, The Courts, Carlisle, Cumbria CA3 8NA
information@cumbriacc.gov.uk
http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/contact/default.asp

copied to Steve Callaghan

as follows;

Actually Steve generates quite an income from it, despite his previous jobs all earning him much more money and a very reasonable pension.
In fact he deserves a knighthood for being so charitable!
Maybe I should go to Sheffield and take a course or two, and get myself a job as a guardian of road safety in Cumbria. However, I would not be able to sleep nights knowing that people were dying in numbers unabated, nor would I be able to claim credit for reduced seriously injured stats, knowing that in car safety features were having more effect!

It's the sort of job which ideally suits somebody who would blindly press the nuclear button if ordered to by a superior, but in fact in Cumbria it has been taken to a new level of mistruths, and blatantly twisted statistics!

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

PMed

Does Mr 'Give us the money' Callaghan EVER ask himself when he is in a quiet little corner away from his PR officer, just WHY there are 47 'sites' in Cumbria where normal law-abiding motorists apparently have a sudden urge to commit suicide ? Is there some sort of mind-influencing ray from outer space making them act like this ?

Well, of course I think we all know the answer to that one, NO there isn't. So why is there no attempt made to make improvements at these sites, to reduce the frequency of collision? And are these collisions always a result of exceeding the speed limt; in the vast majority of cases, No, it's inappropriate speed, but what causes the motorist to proceed at an inappropriate speed ?

According to Cumbria SCP fear of the camera is the answer in all cases and in all places; WHAT TOSH, WHAT UTTER UTTER NONSENSE !!

But of course it's much easier just to fine people and pontificate from the pulpit on 'the wicked speeders'. After all it earns lots of dosh and this is clearly the main aim. Since the new rules abolishing hypothecation, the money can be used on other non-camera road safety initiatives, but there are to be none of these in Cumbria it would seem. I also gather that the moneys are still based on speed ticket issued despite any denials there might have been.

Reckless lunatics deserve all they get, (and there are quite a few of these), Mr Callahgan needs to admit that most people he thumps for £60 and three points are driving reasonably carefully, after all, over a certain speed, it's a summons not a fixed penalty (for the lunatics !). In no other area of human activity is 100% precision, correctness and compliance expected in every second of every journey. ITS JUST BARMY !

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Good manners maketh a good motorist

Do you, or anyone else, know of a more recent survey in Cumbria.

I know it's not what you're looking for but, I just found this using google. I might be worth a deeper look.

http://www.cumbriasafetycameras.org/index.php?newsall

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Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

So they won't do you for doing 35 on a perfectly safe road just because the limit happens to be 30 then. No I didn't think so.

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Brian

2003 is a typo I think - this might help.
http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=490793
While you are there, click the road safety link top left, and then browse the old stories there.

Anyone noticed how bang up to date the CSCP website is?
The top news item is dated July 2007, and a search for the Ings calibration certificate which is dated 03/07 is actually showing page not found since it was posted (it's in the Library link).
How many news items have been released but not on the site? There is nothing about the current crop!

If you want to listen to Steve Callaghan in the flesh so to speak, go here, and fast forward 1hr 22mins into the show.
It might be wise not to get too excited and pound your keyboard!

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!