Safe Speed Forums

Speed trap nets £6,200 a day

By JOHN COLES
SEPTEMBER 07, 2006

BRITAIN’S biggest-earning speed camera raked in more than £6,200 a DAY in fines, it was revealed yesterday.

More than 20,000 motorists were caught by the Gatso in motorway roadworks in just seven months — costing them £1.2million and 61,000 penalty points on their licences.

The camera on the M5 near Bristol was clocking more than 100 drivers daily, coining in £6,240 at the rate of £260 an hour.

The whopping haul of £1,222,980 in seven months makes the camera three times more lucrative than the country’s previous top-earning Gatso on the M62 near Leeds.

That one netted just over £1million across an 18-month period at the average rate of £2,158 per day.

The latest figures have outraged critics who say they prove the Government is targeting drivers to make money. Paul Smith, of anti-speed camera group Safe Speed, claimed evidence showed that instead of preventing crashes Gatsos at motorway roadworks can actually contribute to them.

He said: “I’m so angry to hear about this camera raking in so much money for the Government.

“Scientific evidence released by the Highways Agency shows us that fixed cameras like this one can increase accidents by up to 55 per cent.”

The Fatso Gatso was one of eight temporary cameras installed to enforce a 40mph limit on the M5 during roadworks between junctions 18 and 20 last year.

Between May and November it flashed 20,383 drivers on the northbound carriageway between Avonmouth and Cribbs Causeway, where a new crawler lane was being built.

The other seven caught a total of 5,092 motorists between September 2005 and June 2006, amounting to 15,276 penalty points and £305,520 in fines.

After the Gatsos were removed the Avon and Somerset Safety Camera Partnership released figures showing how much they had made following a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

Nigel Humphries, of the Association of British Drivers, said: “Cameras at roadworks force drivers to look down at the speedometers and not at their surroundings which, it has now been proven, causes accidents.

“The whole system makes a mockery out of road safety because drivers are getting fined for actually being safe.”

The row comes as the Home Office predicts that the 39 safety camera partnerships across the country are expected to net £120million for the Treasury this financial year. In 1998 447,000 motorists were caught by cameras but this figure has now topped two million.