Thursday 9th February 2006

Are scamera bodies legal?

Roads minister admits their unusual legal basis

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Scamera bodies not legal...

Roads minister Stephen Ladyman admitted in Parliament recently that "Safety Camera Partnerships are not ... a legal entity" and "are not ... directly accountable to any elected bodies".

Road safety campaign Safe Speed described it as "an extraordinary admission" and said that it believed the situation to be "totally unacceptable". The campaign demanded the creation of an independent Camera Partnership Commissioner, who would be responsible for:

• Publishing a code of practice
• Handling and adjudicating complaints - including awards of compensation
• Ensuring a reasonable standard of public communication, entirely devoid of threats or intimidation
• Ensuring that camera partnerships use statistics honestly and accurately
• Ensuring that partnership-generated road safety information is highly accurate and never misleading
• Ensuring that refunds are handled quickly, accurately and professionally when mistakes are made

Campaign founder Paul Smith said: "While the camera partnerships remain unaccountable we should not be surprised to see them running out of control. Their behaviour is extraordinary. They bluff, bluster and intimidate the public. They publish highly misleading statistics. They fail to inform the public even when they have made gross errors.

"If the camera partnerships remain, it is urgent and absolutely essential that we create a scheme of accountability and the Camera Partnership Commissioner is probably the only way that this can be achieved. Department for Transport has proved itself unwilling to exercise adequate control."

Links

• Ladyman's admission in Parliament
• Safe Speed

[supermono]

They need to be careful. If these guys aren't held properly to account there's a danger that they'll adopt ill informed policies, putting cameras and speed traps up where there's no scientific basis. Plus they'd most likely use statistical errors like regression to mean to support their endevours should genuine accident figures fail to show their performance in the proper light.

In short they would cynically create spin to ensure their continued employment.

Anyone seen any of this happening yet?

SM

[supermono]

Because they're allowed to send letters signed by the Cheif Constable?

SM