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Motorists pay £2.9m in speed camera fines
Reporter: DAWN MARSDEN
Date online: 09 July 2010
SPEEDING drivers paid £87.3 million in fines in 2008-9 despite the number of road deaths failing to fall as predicted.
A new report by the TaxPayers’ Alliance and the Drivers’ Alliance has published the revenue raised by speed cameras and fines imposed by the courts for the first time.
Speed cameras in Greater Manchester generated £2,876,280 — the fourth highest total in the country after London, Avon and Somerset and Mid and South Wales.
With the boom in speed cameras and speeding fines in recent years the issue has become highly controversial among motorists.
The two pressure groups also published figures they claim showed that road casualty numbers have declined at a slower rate since speed cameras were introduced in the early 1990s compared with the rate before then.
This has led to over 1.5 million more casualties on British roads between 1991 and 2007 than would have occurred if the previous rate of reduction had been sustained.
The report concludes that British policy should follow Swindon, which scrapped speed cameras in 2008.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Motorists have long suspected that speed cameras are more about raising money than keeping the roads safe. These findings show that the state has been squeezing a fortune out of people using these cameras, but if anything the rate of reduction in casualty numbers has slowed.
“The country should follow Swindon which has scrapped cameras altogether. People are sick of being fined under the guise of road safety.”
Peter Roberts, Chief Executive of the Drivers’ Alliance, added: “Speed cameras have been a false hope in improving safety on British roads. It is time to rethink road safety policy so that it has broadened focus not solely based on speed. No more speed cameras should be funded by local authorities and existing speed cameras should be removed.”
Comments
Classic misreading of statistics.
"igures they claim showed that road casualty numbers have declined at a slower rate since speed cameras were introduced in the early 1990s compared with the rate before then. "
"This has led to over 1.5 million more casualties on British roads between 1991 and 2007 than would have occurred if the previous rate of reduction had been sustained."
NO account whatsover in those figures of the more than doubling of car numbers on the road which wipe out their stats
im all for fines and points for speeding motorists! although i do think the police spend a bit too much effot on motorists instead of proper policing.
i'd like to know where all the money collected from these fines actually goes? and what does it get spent on?
The money goes on buying more cash cow generators under the guise of safety, which when you consider the amount of legal obstacles on the roads it’s a joke….. But it makes a profit
Oldham Watcher,did not think I was a speeder,but after driving 600+ miles in a day and past no doubt countless cameras and patrol cars I was unaware of,I was fined in Oldham,clocked at 38mph by a camera I knew was there.That either makes me very stupid and questioning if I should stop driving my car,being disabled that makes me a virtual prisoner in my home.Or maybe I am not so stupid and there is another reason?
Poor driving rather than speeding is mostly to blame for accidents, but it's always speed that gets blamed. If police actually made a presence on our roads instead of relying on worthless cameras (how many people slow down for the camera only to speed up right after?) I'm sure statistics would improve!
OldhamWatcher: You're right in that we do need to make speeding socially unaceptable, but unfortunately I think we've missed the chance of that by the use of speed cameras and the greed of those that profit from them. Because of this greed they have installed the cameras in places designed purely to catch people out (e.g. at the same time as reducing limits or not making the limits clear), which means more and more people are caught and it's now seen as an occupational hazard...(continued below)
... for drivers and as more and more people get fined it becomes less and less of a deterrent, and there’s definitely not the shame that would prompt it to be considered socially unacceptable! It has become a missed opportunity, purely down to the greed of those in power.
Have Your Say
Don't Speed, Don't get a speeding fine. I don't, I haven't.
DEAD SIMPLE REALLY!
Speeding needs to be as socially unnaceptable as drink driving. People who speed are selfish arrogant morons. (just like pavement blocking parkers)
P.S I've had my licence 18 years and I am acutely aware cars are lethal weapons.
By OldhamWatcher @ 09/07/2010 13:18:26