Speed Cameras by TITVS ADVXAS

As a youngster, growing up in a white working class area of Birmingham, known as Acocks Green, in the sixties, I was happy. I was oblivious too. Oblivious to the need for speed cameras. Why were they introduced we ask? To save lives on our roads is the reply from The Establishment. But was this the real reason? Was there a more sinister motive?

We've all driven along a nice stretch of road and in the distance have seen the high-visibility stripe on the side of a car, and slowed down. Not because we are speeding, but because that car may be dealing with an accident and for safety's sake we have slowed down. But when we reach the 'Emergency Vehicle', all we see is a police car, with two coppers inside pointing what looks like a hair dryer in your direction. The original "RG" speed gun! RG? Revenue Generating!

Weren't these devices used to save lives on our roads? No! The concept of the radar gun had always been to 'Catch' speeding motorists. This then generates an income for the local authority where the gun is used.

Nowadays the radar gun used by police is more like a sniper's rifle, using modern NPR technology is able to catch the speeding motorist miles away before he is aware of the gun. Nowadays there is actually no need to have two policemen sitting around doing this when they could actually be out catching real criminals. Nowadays there's the 'Static Speed Camera' The GATSO or TUVELO, and on Motorways like M25 and M42 There's 'The Active Management System'. And then where there's motorway repairs, There's The obligatory lane width restriction, and the inflexible yet very cute 'Average Speed Check' or SPECS Camera too. Does this plethora of cameras reduce accidents and fatalities?

The answer depends on who's statistics you view. If you check the figures from the government, police or local authorities, you see that there is an impressive reduction of about 30% in crashes and 70% of fatalities in these areas. By the way these figures are produced for the authorities by or on behalf of... the manufactures of the equipment! Figures from the motorists organisations say that there IS a small reduction only, and organisations such as the RAC Foundation argue that over-emphasis on speed enforcement leads to a neglect of other types of illegal driving behaviour. For example, drink driving, dangerous driving, and driving while disqualified, are not detected by speed cameras. There have been criticisms of the Durham Road Casualty Reduction Partnership (which covers the one area not taking part in the Safety Camera scheme) which believes that these other factors cause more crashes than speed and that cameras will not help to solve its road casualty problem. Similarly, cameras are criticised by some for replacing traffic patrols. Supporters of the scheme argue that the use of cameras frees up police time and resources to deal with other traffic issues.

There are of course exceptions to all of this though. Take for example an off-duty police man caught on camera driving at speeds of 150mph on the M54 from Wolverhampton to Telford, who's defence was that he needed to practice driving at these speeds to facilitate his job as a traffic cop! Well why didn't The Police Authority know about this proposed action? Why didn't The Police authority use a local aerodrome for this or even use Brands Hatch or Silverstone?

As published