Safe Speed Forums

I'm on BBC Radio Sheffield ttoday, head to head with Alan Bailey from the South Yourshire camera partnership talking about this press release:

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Motorists back safety cameras

South Yorkshire motorists have given overwhelming backing to the use of safety cameras to curb speeding on local roads.

A survey of over 1,000 drivers carried out by South Yorkshire Police Authority revealed significant support for the safety camera campaign.

Eighty-seven per cent of the drivers taking part in the Police Talk survey thought there were likely to be fewer accidents on roads covered by safety cameras. And 73 per cent thought that the main aim of the cameras was to save lives.

Significantly, 81 per cent of motorists believed that the cameras were meant to encourage people to stick to the speed limit ? not punish them.

The findings have been welcomed by South Yorkshire Safety Camera Partnership, which is responsible for the network of roadside and static cameras on the county?s road network.

?It is very heartening to hear that most drivers believe we want to make our roads safer ? not that we are simply out to make money,? said the partnership?s communications manager Alan Brailey.

?The fact is that we are not allowed to make a profit. All we want to do is make our roads safer by encouraging drivers to consider their speed and stay within the legal limits.?

Last year, 65 people were killed and 683 seriously injured on South Yorkshire roads.

The study found that a majority of drivers - 66 per cent ? believed that speed was a key factor in a majority of accidents. And 75 per cent of drivers thought that safety cameras should be supported as a way of reducing casualties.

Sixty two per cent thought that dangerous drivers were more likely to be caught because of cameras. And a majority of all respondents felt that catching speeding drivers should be a medium or high priority.

Eighty-seven per cent thought that cameras should be highly visible ? in line with the policy of South Yorkshire Safety Camera Partnership.

The high-profile campaign uses bright yellow camera housings and publishes a list of active camera locations at the partnership website, www.safetycamera.org.


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Alan added: ?We want to make speeding as socially unacceptable as drink-driving. If the support revealed by this survey continues, there is every chance that we can achieve that goal.?

The South Yorkshire findings come after an national independent study found that 79 per cent of people asked supported the use of cameras to reduce casualties - and that the benefit to society through reduced casualties is about £221 million per year.

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I'm looking forward to it.

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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

So - how did it go? Your impressions, and those of any members who might have heard it (I'm not local to Sheffield, so will miss it).

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Keep right on to the end of the road ...

It was fine - but all too short as usual.

I was able to repeat: "70,000 tickets and deaths are UP - it's not working" a few times.

Alan was quite friendly and wants to meet me (discussed after air). We agreed on air that we were on the same side but differed in approach and method. This is quite positive - at least the scamerati are getting the message that there are alternative views on safety, and also accepting Safe Speed as campaigning FOR road safety.

I didn't have time to explain how twisted the survey questions are nor to explain that "benefits" at camera sites are due to regression to the mean.

I may well contact Radio Sheffield and try to persuade them to do a 30 minute discussion on the subject - that'd be interesting and the personalities seemed to work quite well together.

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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