Monday 16th November 2009

Crash Rate Soars At £500k Speed Camera Site

M11 'scamera' that rakes in £500k a year has seen casualty rates nearly double

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A speed camera (not THE speed camera)

Crashes have almost doubled at a fixed speed camera site on the M11 that rakes in half a million pounds a year from motorists.

Statistics revealed under the Freedom of Information Act show that the numbers of both accidents and casualties at the spot have jumped sharply since the camera was installed in May 2001.

The numbers show a jump of almost 40 percent in the number of accidents and a near doubling of the number of casualties. There were a total of 13 accidents and 14 casualties in the five-and-a-half years prior to the camera's arrival, but 18 accidents and 26 casualties in the first five-and-a-half years after the installation.

The Essex Police, who initially tried to block the Freedom of Information request but were forced to disclose the stats by the Information Commissioner, finally revealed the accident data along with the number of fines gathered by the camera.

The information revealed that the 'scamera', which is situated between junctions five and four of the southbound M11 at a point where the limit drops from 70mph to 50mph, nets around 9000 speeding tickets a year.

Paul Pearson, who originally requested the information and who runs motorist's campaigning website penaltychargenotice.co.uk, told the Telegraph: "No wonder they haven't removed the camera that is causing these accidents. It is just raising too much money and they clearly want to keep it there."

Essex police told Mr Pearson that "the partnership reviews all its enforced sites annually and is satisfied that this and other sites should remain".

Despite Mr Pearson's efforts, the police still won't reveal exactly how much money they make from the camera.

[Supertoadylight]

asfujbswefh fngf sg sng sfg o;sdf sdf sfdgosd flashf ksjd skfd .

Insert W-word here "w _ _ k _ r s."

[jonesyx]

speechless.........

Ha, stick that in yer' speed camera pipe and smoke it......

safety camera partnership my behind!

[The Wookie]

That camera is one of my pet hates. It's patently obvious exactly why it is where it is

[theJT]

Putting aside the tragedy of road accidents for a moment, isn't this a really depressing instance of 'left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing?' So, this camera is rasing 500,000 a year or thereabouts, and thusly the people who get the money from it are understandibly reluctant to remove it. How much does it cost the NHS to look after each accident victim? Or the police to secure the crash site, and perform an accident report? That sort of thing is NOT cheap! The appauling lack of regard for motorist safty aside, financially this is REALLY dumb.

[oldsoak]

[devils advocate] Wonder just how many of those crashes were rear end shunts caused by the driver of vehicle in front not seeing the camera until the last minute and welding the middle pedal to the floor pan whilst 'chummy' in the vehicle behind ...equally inattentive, ruins his NCB by piling into the back of him.[/devils advocate]

[KMT]

How can any force justify continued positioning of a speed camera where there is clear evidence to show that it actually increases the number of accidents???

Would be very interested to know how many of the accidents relate to a hard jump on the brakes!

It's suspicious too that the police are reluctant to tell us about the money they make from this site - seems to me they have something to hide.

[Gridl0k]

Do you like KILLING CHILDREN? Because that's what you're doing when you disagree with ACPO and question the need to have SAFETY FLUFFY BUNNY HEROIC ANTI-SPEED-MOLESTER cameras on our roads.

Why do you hate children?

[Zato]

I have nearly gone in the back of someone at this site. Complete idiot was on the speed limit and braked heavily for no reason except to get way under the limit through the camera. I recon a fair few of the accidents have been rear shunts.

[AMG Merc]

Industry chap on the radio this morning said in the 6 months before this scamera was installed there was something like 1 serious accident and in the 6 months after, 7 serious accidents (approx. - as I can't recall exactly but the ratio is the important metric). Logical?!

[kevin ritson]

That section of road is dodgy enough with two lanes into one - to combine it with a 20mph speed limit drop is madness.

[shotokan]

SCAM should clearly be removed in favour of a reminder sign that flashes if (when) drivers exceed the limit

Really typical that they won't admit the mistake and remove it in the face of what looks like clear evidence the SCAM is an actual HAZARD...guess it's only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt - not that those responsible for the device give a damn, of course.

[PetrolTed]

I presume the reduced speed limit was introduced at the same time as the cameras were installed?

Whilst I'm no fan of inappropriately placed cameras, to disregard that aspect of the road conditions isn't really a fair comparison.

If the 50mph limit had been introduced without cameras what would the accident rate be?

[B Oeuf]

theJT said:

Putting aside the tragedy of road accidents for a moment, isn't this a really depressing instance of 'left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing?' So, this camera is rasing 500,000 a year or thereabouts, and thusly the people who get the money from it are understandibly reluctant to remove it. How much does it cost the NHS to look after each accident victim? Or the police to secure the crash site, and perform an accident report? That sort of thing is NOT cheap! The appauling lack of regard for motorist safty aside, financially this is REALLY dumb.

There is no connection between the SCP and the NHS, the brief for the SCP is, as a business, to survive and to do this it raises money to line Gordos pockets who, in turn, pays them a fee to remain in business. A well sited scamera goes a long way towards maintaining this synergy.
I'd be interested to know how the fees are allocated and apportioned.

[HereBeMonsters]

I went past this last night, and surprise surprise - there was an accident there...

[Adrian W]

Thats the camera where people who don't know the area ignore the signs on the 70mph motorway, realise there is a camera as it drops to 50, go oh fk, hit the brakes, and the car behind spanks straight into the back of them.

its amazing if you slow down to 50 how many cars overtake you.

[eddyg]

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=m11&oe=utf-8&a...


....

[saaby93]

Tell the problem here

Why does it drop from 70 to 50 and how does it drop from 3 lane to 2?
Is it a typical drop from 3 to 2 at a road junction where lane 1 slips off forever?

[andy_s]

Apart from anything else, why do the police feel they have to resist attempts by the public to access this information - on what grounds? If they were genuine in what they did and it wasn't tied up with politics and promotions surely they'd welcome some commonsense.

[Busa_Rush]

It's a cash camera, everybody knew that when it was installed . . . straight piece of multi-lane road, no junctions, old folks homes, schools or even a dodgy blind summit.

[Gixer_fan]

Adrian W said:

Thats the camera where people who don't know the area ignore the signs on the 70mph motorway, realise there is a camera as it drops to 50, go oh fk, hit the brakes, and the car behind spanks straight into the back of them.

its amazing if you slow down to 50 how many cars overtake you.

The variable mandatory limit cameras on the M25 can sometimes be lethal. I was once forced down to a 20mph limit due to a worktruck on the hard shoulder at 11:30 at night. I was braced for impact from the truck bearing down on me from behind! Not fun..