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| release date: 25th June 2004 | number: PR129 |
| Deaths up in high camera
areas
NEWS: For immediate release There is a clear tendency for road deaths to increase where speed cameras are most used says Safe Speed. Using official figures released yesterday Safe Speed has compared the road safety performance of various groups of counties. The top four speeding fines areas (Essex,
Lancashire, Thames Valley and Derbyshire) collectively saw road death increase
between 2002 and 2003 by 12.2% from 376 to 422, despite issuing almost
600,000 speeding
The eight original camera partnership areas collectively saw road deaths increase by 12.9% from 634 to 716, and issued 566,000 speeding tickets. The eight original camera partnership areas collectively saw killed and seriously injured reduce by 1.2% from 2002 to 2003 while national KSI reduced by 6.6%. The four bottom speeding fine areas issued under 24,000 speeding tickets and collectively saw road deaths fall over the same period, but only by 2. It might be argued that cameras have been
added in greater number in the most dangerous counties. So what sort of
changes did we see in earlier years? Were accidents in the trial 8 increasing
before they joined the partnership scheme in 2000? And the answer is no.
trial 8 counties - road deaths
1997 657 top 4 ticketing counties - road deaths
1997 391 bottom 4 ticketing counties - road deaths
1997 221The kindest possible conclusion is that official strategy is not working to save lives in the high camera counties. But Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign comments: "We're not suprised to see road deaths increasing where there are lots of speed cameras. We don't have a lot of accidents caused by speeding and cameras come with a whole range of side effects. For example, they send a distorted safety message and they distract drivers." Paul continues, "Some have blamed the 2003 increase in road deaths on motorbikes, and if you look at the figures in isolation it is true that road death in total rose by 95 while motorbike deaths rose by 84. But we don't yet know the causes of the extra motorbike deaths, nor do we yet know if there was an increase in national motorbike mileage. The causes of the accidents are very important, because much of the increase may have been caused by dozy car drivers. All we can safely conclude is that the road became more dangerous." <ends>
Notes for editors: All casualty figures from DfT "Road Casualties in Great Britain Main Results" 1997 to 2002 inclusive:
Camera conviction by county figures from
The Daily Mail, 17th May 2004.
There will be a spreadsheet containing
the figures available soon at the following address:
The eight trial counties are:
The four top ticketing counties in 2003
are:
The bottom four ticketing counties are:
About Safe Speed: Since setting up Safe Speed in 2001, Paul Smith, 49, an advanced motorist and road safety enthusiast, and a professional engineer of 25 years UK experience, has carried out about 5,000 hours of research into the overall effects of speed camera policy on UK road safety. We believe that this is more work in more detail than anything carried out by any other organisation. Paul's surprising conclusion is that overall speed cameras make our roads more dangerous. Paul has identified and reported a number of major flaws and false assumptions in the claims made for speed cameras, and the whole "speed kills" system of road safety. The inescapable conclusion is that we should urgently return to the excellent road safety policies that gave us in the UK the safest roads in the World in the first place. Safe Speed does not campaign against speed
limits or appropriate enforcement of motoring laws, but argues vigorously
that automated speed enforcement is neither safe nor appropriate.
Contact Safe Speed: web: http://www.safespeed.org.uk
We are available for press and media interviews. |
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Created 29/06/2004. Last update 29/06/2004 |