Safe Speed Forums

A speed camera was installed not so long ago on a road near me, and I immediately noticed how incredibly visible it was. It was a combination of the direction of approach and the colour of the camera (bright yellow) compared to the colour of the background behind it (dark green tree leaves).

So, I wasn't all that surprised when workmen started fiddling with it in various ways. They were messing about in the cabinet at the side of the road that seemed to be linked to it, then they were messing about with the camera unit itself. I was pretty certain that it hadn't caught a single speeding motorist, and they were wondering "Is this thing actually working?!".

Anyway, they finally seemed to give up and take the camera away. I wasn't sure what they were up to, but it all became clear when it returned a few days later...........

They had spray painted most of the camera a dull matt grey colour to replace the bright yellow colour, and the bits that were left more visible were sprayed a duller orange colour. Because of the angle that the camera is at, about 45 degrees to the direction you approach it from, this has made the camera very much less visible.

Now, okay, you can still see it, but my point is, this just proves that they would prefer motorists to speed and be caught than to see the camera and slow down for it. That is the only possible explanation, why else would they do something that can only possibly be intended to reduce the visibility of the camera? This makes a mockery out of the idea that cameras are for accident blackspots where they're trying to reduce speeds.

You could ask them under the Freedom of Information Act?
"Why has this highly visible camera (which was acting as a very good deterrant) been replaced with one which is signifficantly less highly visible?"

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Andrew.

Absolutely! You beat me to it. The response would make a very interesting newspaper story.

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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