Back to Motoring news

Motoring news

Motoring news search

Search our archive of Motoring news.

		GO

Motoring news archive

Search our archive of Motoring
news by date.

2012

January
February
March
April
May

2011

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

2010

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

2009

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

2008

September
October
November
December

RSS feed

You can subscribe to receive the latest motoring news from Admiral with RSS.

	Motoring news RSS feed

Axing speed cameras 'will see increase in deaths'

10/08/2010

Police and pedestrian groups have slammed budget cuts which are threatening networks of speed cameras, warning of a rise in deaths if authorities cannot afford to keep them running.

Mick Giannasi, chief constable of Gwent Police - and the lead on roads for the Association of Chief Police Officers - wrote to road safety minister Mike Penning, telling him that the situation was now urgent, following the Government's slashing of the road safety budget by 40% (around £38 million) this year.

And following the Government's pledge not to fund any new cameras - after claims from Penning that they are increasingly seen as a "cash cow" by the public - he is warning that 80% of the devices will disappear over the next five years.

Speaking to the Guardian newspaper, Giannasi said that evidence pointed to cameras having a "significant deterrent effect" - both at fixed sites, and also as a general presence on the roads, "because people are concerned about being caught speeding".

"If there is less enforcement, and nothing else replaces it, then there is a risk that the progress we have made will be lost," he added.

Giannasi pointed out that the number of deaths on UK roads fell to 2,222 last year - a new post-war low.

The warning comes as Julie Spence, the outgoing chief constable of Cambridgeshire Police, blasted the "middle-class anti-social behaviour" of speeding in an interview with The Telegraph.

Last week Oxfordshire County Council turned off all of its 72 cameras, citing cuts in central Government funding for it being unable to maintain the network. While the Government announced in its June emergency Budget that there would be sweeping 25% cuts across all departments, it has been suggested that this will effectively see 40% wiped from the road safety budget for the current year.

Other authorities - including Buckinghamshire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire, Somerset and Wiltshire - are now said to be considering a similar course of action.

However, Tony Armstrong, chief executive of pedestrian charity Living Streets', urged caution. He pointed to a four-year evaluation report by the Department for Transport, published in 2004, which recorded a 70% reduction in speeding at fixed camera sites.

"Before rushing to ditch speed cameras, councils must thoroughly review the impact it will have on residents' quality of life and safety,"Armstrong added.

Tweet