Tuesday 13th January 2009

Essex Camera is Biggest Money-Spinner

Single camera said to be making £1m a year

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A speed camera in Essex has been named as the biggest money maker in the UK. The notorious Gatso, on the southbound carriageway of the M11 near Woodford Green Athletics Club, is believed to have generated nearly £1 million in revenue over the past year.

Local people are furious that the camera has made so much money, arguing that it is not preventing accidents.

Professional musician Hamish Birchall told the Waltham Forest Guardian: ‘I don’t think it follows that just because you’ve caught people going over the speed limit you have prevented accidents. It’s a scandal.

'The data suggests this camera is causing accidents but the only reason they’re keeping it up is because it makes so much money. I’ve written to the Transport Minister about it but he hasn’t replied to any of my letters.'

The Highways Agency says the camera is saving lives. A spokesman said: ‘ The camera on the M11 has been successful in addressing the cluster of collisions occurring approximately 900 metres (1000 yards) south of the current camera location, which is what the camera was installed to do.

'The accident data does not show a pattern of accidents which would be consistent with the camera itself being a factor.’ The camera was also named the most money-making in the country in 2003.

[spoonoff]

Cameras do not save lives- the way the government use statistics to justify them is not correct. You could sacrifice a chicken in any spot which has seen a 'cluster' of accidents and then show there had been a reduction in collisions afterwards. Nothing to do with harming poultry, it is just the nature of random events to occur in clusters.

[spoonoff]

...on the other hand, these people who say cameras are a 'tax on the motorist' are wrong. They are not a tax on the motorist, there are not even really a tax on the speeding motorist, they are a tax on the motorist stupid enough to speed past a large, yellow, metal box which is placed on a pole fifteen feet above the ground.

[chris_crossley]

spoonoff said:

...on the other hand, these people who say cameras are a 'tax on the motorist' are wrong. They are not a tax on the motorist, there are not even really a tax on the speeding motorist, they are a tax on the motorist stupid enough to speed past a large, yellow, metal box which is placed on a pole fifteen feet above the ground.

Yep...
Long as they don't hide them, i don't speed past them
Which is why i really don't live AVERAGE speed cameras

[dwilkie]

Agree with 2 out of 3 people here - if you don't notice a bright yellow camera you're clearly not paying enough attention to your driving. (Yes, it's at the side of the road. Which is where pedestrians come from). If you're paying attention or not speeding they make no difference to your driving imho.

[FesterNath]

Why don't they spend the revenue on changing the design of the road to make it safer. That must have something to do with it, otherwise every road in the country would require one of these.

[Fire99]

spoonoff said:

...on the other hand, these people who say cameras are a 'tax on the motorist' are wrong. They are not a tax on the motorist, there are not even really a tax on the speeding motorist, they are a tax on the motorist stupid enough to speed past a large, yellow, metal box which is placed on a pole fifteen feet above the ground.

Maybe but people are people and sadly judging by the standard of driving these days, the sudden awareness that that little yellow box is there causes a good number of people to jam on the anchors..
And if you thought average cameras would help, not surprisingly i see people hitting the brakes infront of them too..

The true way to reduce accidents IMO is to punish people who just drive badly but that wouldn't balance the books so we can't have that with this government..

[oldsoak]

FesterNath said:

Why don't they spend the revenue on changing the design of the road to make it safer. That must have something to do with it, otherwise every road in the country would require one of these.

Here's a concept...how's about folks just don't exceed the limit in an area that cameras patrol ...cue usual arguments about the safety aspect of watching the speedo rather than the road etc...

[henrycrun]

Essex Camera is Biggest Money Spinner - and contributions are voluntary

[Fourmotion]

Does it not suggest that if you still have so many people 'speeding' that it is not likely to be speed that is causing these accidents?

Excesive speed will no doubt make an accident worse, but it sounds to me like it's not actually the cause.

Using man logic I'd suggest that the higher number of speeders you get, the safer the road

[akw1]

heres a concept...how about only putting cameras or vans where there is a proven accident blackspot, then if that reduces the accidents, improve the road layout.
only big drawback is that the government and others dont get unfair, massive money from motorists

[red_slr]

So during the most active 12 hours of the day its snapping about one person every 20 mins... not exactly a lot for a major road. Now if that was SPECS I suspect that figure might be a LOT higher.

[snuffy]

dwilkie said:

Yes, it's at the side of the road. Which is where pedestrians come from.

True, but not in this case. It's on the M11 so I'd not expect many pedestrians on the side of the road.

[mmm-five]

oldsoak said:

FesterNath said:

Why don't they spend the revenue on changing the design of the road to make it safer. That must have something to do with it, otherwise every road in the country would require one of these.

Here's a concept...how's about folks just don't exceed the limit in an area that cameras patrol ...cue usual arguments about the safety aspect of watching the speedo rather than the road etc...

Because maybe they speed limit is too high for the road and the accidents were caused by people assuming they could drive around the bend spot on the limit without crashing.



BTW
Is it just me, but have you noticed how the most acute bends on country roads are less likely to have chevron warnings than the less acute corners? I've been driving a lot of twisty A & B roads lately in my new car, and I will approach a bend quite quickly, assess the bend taking into account everything I can see, on a lot of corners you'll see the B&W chevron signs warning of the severity of the bend, but you'll go round the bend relatively slowly and realise it was nothing more than a kink and the map doesn't even show it as a bend. Then you'll come up to a bend without a sign and it'll be almost a 180! It's only due to the reading of the road ahead and how the perspective changes on the bend that you work out quickly that it's tighter than the previous one.

Although, I think they all started with them but some of the worst have been taken out by flying cars

[scubadude]

This is only a few hundred meters from my house and although a slight annouance I have NO sympathy for anyone getting caught by it.

As you approach it there are Massive (8ftx14ft) bright yellow signs saying End of Motorway and 50mph, then a second smaller set a couple of hundred yards before the camera. The road also narrows from 3 to 2 lanes so the traffic slows naturally, lastly the Camera is clearly visible to the approaching driver for close on 500mtrs.

If you get caught here you don't deserve a ticket you deserve execution to purge the gene pool of your stupidity... mind you it is in Essex.

FWIW the Accidents happening 900mtrs south of the Camera are because the two remaining lanes split into A406 South and West and the signage is unclear and on a succession of right, left bends with bumpy surface and bad expansion gap alignment. Anything much over 60mph will see you risk loosing it anyway irrespective of the camera.

[focus man]

I have no problems with speed cameras....but why are they not used near or outside every school in th e country??? cant think of any near my local schools yet people still hack past them doing 40 or 50(on there mobile aswell) in a 30 mph zone....if thats your child hit by them they will prob die.....30mph or less they might survive...there should be a lot more traffic police on the roads aswell,the standard of driving is at times appalling...altho have to say our driving test is a joke(no motorway driving,car control,etc,we should be refreshed with eyesight test every 10 years to keep your licence) which is not helped by poor driving instructors(not all),i often see pupils driving with instructors in poor visibilty with no lights on at all(eg fog,heavy rain,dusk) makes me wonder what other nasty habits they are learning too!!!...driving should be a pleasure and i want to be the very best i can,that means visual awareness at all times,lane disipline,indicators actually being used,etc etc the list goes on!!!..but then there are people that enjoy driving and those that see them as a means of getting from a to b and sod the rest of you!!!!!

[infradig]

scubadude said:

This is only a few hundred meters from my house and although a slight annouance I have NO sympathy for anyone getting caught by it.

As you approach it there are Massive (8ftx14ft) bright yellow signs saying End of Motorway and 50mph, then a second smaller set a couple of hundred yards before the camera. The road also narrows from 3 to 2 lanes so the traffic slows naturally, lastly the Camera is clearly visible to the approaching driver for close on 500mtrs.

If you get caught here you don't deserve a ticket you deserve execution to purge the gene pool of your stupidity... mind you it is in Essex.

FWIW the Accidents happening 900mtrs south of the Camera are because the two remaining lanes split into A406 South and West and the signage is unclear and on a succession of right, left bends with bumpy surface and bad expansion gap alignment. Anything much over 60mph will see you risk loosing it anyway irrespective of the camera.

Agree 100%,even without the signs you can see the camera from half a mile away. Saying its on the M11 is a bit misleading as the motorway ends at the camera-anyone caught by this should be made to have an eyesight test.

[peter pan]

Who says the posted limits are correct in the first place? all too often these days local authorities impose low limits on roads which were perfectly safe for the higher speeds which existed before they started meddling with them.
Limits which are far to low for the majority of people using a section of road are set, and then surprise surprise! large numbers of people get caught by a camera there.
Anyone who know this section of road will realise a camera there is TOTALLY wrong, and has done NOTHING to improve road safety, it only lines the pockets of camera partnerships. People tend not to obey BAD law wherever it rears its ugly head..

[sday12]

Lazy Journalism.


Surley the story (part lifted from the Waltham Forest Guardian) is follow up to an article in The Sun last week that the incident of accidents and casualities had increased since the camera was installed (ref: Speed Safe)


We've know for years (2003) that it is the highest reaping scamera in the UK.


Research?

[carl_w]

scubadude said:

This is only a few hundred meters from my house and although a slight annouance I have NO sympathy for anyone getting caught by it.

As you approach it there are Massive (8ftx14ft) bright yellow signs saying End of Motorway and 50mph, then a second smaller set a couple of hundred yards before the camera. The road also narrows from 3 to 2 lanes so the traffic slows naturally, lastly the Camera is clearly visible to the approaching driver for close on 500mtrs.

Is it that one? I thought it was the one on the M11 itself as the speed limit drops from 70 to 50 on the bend around the waterworks. Although it drops from 3 lanes to 2 there, that whole section was 70 limit for many years until you got onto the North Circ proper.

IIRC it's some two miles short of the end of the motorway.

Edited by carl_w on Tuesday 13th January 13:56

[corozin]

Not only is it painted fluorescent yellow but if one believes the reports it must be flashing cars so frequently that you must be some kind of idiot to get caught by it.

I mean most of these cameras are not hard to spot are they?