Gatsos damned by official figures
Cameras at roadworks don't make driving safer: report
"Cameras don't make it safer"
TRL report number 595, commissioned by the Highways Agency and delivered in early 2004, looked at crashes at motorway road works and evaluated the effects of various safety treatments. Safe Speed said it had obtained a full copy which contained the following information:
- Where fixed speed cameras were installed at road works the risk of personal injury crashes was increased by 55 per cent.
- Where fixed speed cameras were installed on open motorways the risk of injury crashes was increased by 31 per cent.
- Speed cameras also increased the risk of crashes by 4.5 per cent at road works and 6.7 per cent elsewhere.
- Conventional Police patrols reduced the risk of crashes by 27 per cent at road works and 10 per cent elsewhere.
- Speed cameras were associated with an increase in crash severity with fatal and serious crashes being 32 per cent more likely where speed cameras were operated.
- Motorway road works are no more dangerous than open motorways.
In the executive summary, the information presented in the report isn't calculated out except as an aggregate with police patrols included, said Safe Speed. The police patrols showed a positive benefit while the speed cameras showed a negative effect and the two were cancelled out to show zero as a net benefit.
Campaign founder Paul Smith said: "It is outrageous that this sort of information has been hidden from the public. We all need the best information to help us to drive as safely as possible. Whenever we are driving we have to manage risk - and the more we understand the real risks the better we manage them."
"We have all seen strange driver behaviour where fixed speed cameras operate. This report highlights the dangers. We're not surprised to see this information -- we have known for years that speed cameras were the wrong road safety strategy, and it's a huge relief to see the truth coming out so clearly.
"It has often been argued that digital speed cameras (which measure average speed between two points) lack the 'obvious' problems of single location speed cameras -- for example you cannot defeat the camera by slowing briefly -- but this information shows that digital speed cameras also make the roads more dangerous.
"After thousands of hours of research it became obvious to me that speed cameras were having a negative effect on road safety. The evidence used to support the speed camera programme has been weak and inadequate -- often based on nothing more than false assumptions.
"Now the truth is emerging, I'm hoping for an immediate return to former road safety policies -- policies that delivered the safest roads in the world. Road safety isn't founded in 'simple' things like vehicle speeds - instead it is founded in complex and subtle human behaviours - we have to help drivers to make fewer mistakes, not force them to pay too much attention to one minor safety factor.
"Many motorists won't be surprised by the news - they have always harboured deep suspicions about the speed camera programme - and will be relieved to learn that they were right all along.
"The Highways Agency has reported an increase in road worker deaths in the first half of 2005. It should read its own research and get rid of the dangerous distracting speed cameras."
Smith said: "We must get these dangerous cameras off our motorways right now."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4158198.stm
Driver plea over road-work deaths
The Highways Agency is urging drivers to concentrate
Drivers approaching roadworks are being urged to take extra care after a sharp rise in road-worker deaths this year.
The Highways Agency said people breaking the speed limit represented the biggest danger.
Road maintenance companies say dangerous driving is on the increase, and they are installing special speed cameras to monitor the problem.
Four workers have died in the first half of 2005 - compared with just one death in the whole of 2004.
Highways Agency traffic operations director Derek Turner called workers on motorways and major 'A' roads a "vulnerable group".
ROADWORKER CASUALTIES
2005
4 deaths, 5 serious injuries
2004
1 death, 7 serious injuries
2003
2 deaths, 10 serious injuries
He said: "Everyone is entitled to a safe workplace, yet road workers risk death and injury at work every day [and night] making sure our roads remain safe and in good condition.
"We appeal to drivers to slow down when approaching roadworks and obey the signs and speed limits which are there to ensure the safety of workers and drivers."
To tackle the problem, contractors are installing the latest speed cameras to monitor average speeds over a whole section of motorway rather than at individual locations.
The Highways Agency says staff are trained to work on the roads - but motorists need to train themselves to take more care through roadworks.
The agency launched a Safety at Roadworks campaign in 2001, advising drivers to keep within the speed limit, concentrate on the road, observe road signs and be alert for works traffic.
Mon Ami Mate said:
Would someone please tell the BBC.
I did give them a ring a couple of hours ago. If anyone else wants to have a go, ring 0208 743 8000 and ask for BBC News Online UK desk.
The following new Safe Speed page has more detail:
www.safspeed.org.uk/trl595.html
A naughty USA website has posted the copyright report for public download:
www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/docs/04-trl595.pdf
Anyone wishing to futher distribute the story should send this link (or paste all the text into an email):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SafeSpeedPR/message/80
I'd be ABSOLUTELY delighted if this got good wide coverage. So don't be shy about sending it around or making the odd phone call about it.
So never mind people watching the road / roadworkers then. As long as everyone doesn't take their eyes off the speedo and sticks to 39.5mph then there will be no danger.
ts. 
dean_ratpac said:
all i ever see in the latest news lately is Gatsos not proven to work. when is someone going to actually do something about it.
All we have is drip, drip drip.
And in the blue corner we have DfT, Government, Highways Agency, 44 camera partnerships, camera manufacturers, installers, importers, distributors, service agents, Brake, Roadpeace, Many senior Police Officers, RoSPA, PACTS, and a 'road safety establishment'.
I think we're doing rather well. But we'd do better with more resources: www.safespeed.org.uk/join.html
Liebchen - they have all but admitted it! I acknowledge the need for some kind of enforcement of speed restrictions through roadworks, where drivers are aware of the presence of fixed or mobile cameras they become disproportionately concerned with checking their speed and don't give proper attention to the traffic around them. In congested situations such as roadworks, more observation of the traffic around you is warranted, not less.
The root of the problem is the severity of the penalties handed out by cameras. Most drivers would be happy to divert extra attention to traffic at the risk of creeping up to 44mph in a 40mph limit, and accept the posibility of being pulled by a patrol and given a dressing down, but no penalty. If you creep up to 44mph in a camera zone, however, it's £60 and three points to you sir, and then an extra £200 on the insurance. Camera penalties need to be proportionate to the offence, so that "ten percent plus two" is a warning, and points rack up steadily the higher up you go. Moreover, Kevins in modded Nova's doing 55mph in a 30mph, don't just get 3 points and £60 that they'll never pay anyway because they're on benefits.
I'd suggest forwarding the findings to the Crown Prosecution Service. Surely if there are specific examples where the crash rate has increased, then charges can be brought.
>> Edited by Witchfinder on Wednesday 17th August 13:19
I wait for the day when, if you are killed in an RTA< the Govt issue your estate with a speeding fine.......
lanciachris said:
Whilst I hate speed cameras as much as the next guy, what makes us believe the stats in this report any more than the stats that say 99% of the world wants to hug a speed camera distributed by our government?
Because these are numerical statistics, not the results of a carefully guided questionnaire. They're fact, not opinion. They've done their best to make the numbers look good by combining totals, but separately, the numbers are a disaster.
jasandjules said:
We have no chance of defeating the tax collectors I am afraid, they raise FAR too much money... Deaths will increase, but the Govt won't care. They know full well they are not safe. I spent ages once e-mailing Essex "Safety" partnership, but it is really like hitting your head off a brick wall.
I wait for the day when, if you are killed in an RTA< the Govt issue your estate with a speeding fine.......
Well done Paul. I have to say, I think the above is sadly correct re the current climate / situation; the revenue is too great and the political correctness that says "speed kills" almost irrespective of the truth is so entrenched.
The best that can be done is to keep on and on hammering the truth home to the public - never give up - the government will give in in the end, after all, they have done many stupid things because of public opinion so you never know they may do something sensible and review the whole speed control thing.
...and again, well done Paul.
lanciachris said:
Whilst I hate speed cameras as much as the next guy, what makes us believe the stats in this report any more than the stats that say 99% of the world wants to hug a speed camera distributed by our government?
As witchfinder says - because this report is by and for the hug a speed camera brigade... An attempt has been made to obfuscate the facts and brush this under the carpet. Exposed by Paul Smith!
Mon Ami Mate said:
The Highways Agency is urging drivers to concentrate
Drivers approaching roadworks are being urged to take extra care after a sharp rise in road-worker deaths this year.
...
ROADWORKER CASUALTIES
2005
4 deaths, 5 serious injuries
2004
1 death, 7 serious injuries
2003
2 deaths, 10 serious injuries
Those numbers are too small in absolute terms to make any judgements on there being any variation.
>> Edited by deadlym on Wednesday 17th August 17:06
They had about 3-4 miles of roadworks near chelmsford all scamera'ed up at 40 limit every 500 yards, cones either side just about wide enough for the average car,
probably the most stressful/dangerous driving I have ever done, watching my speedo at a monotonous 40, about 2 inches from the car in front with another 2 inches behind me trying to concentrate on the weaving course of the cones and the cameras,
and if that wasnt enough at night the workers had super bright floodlights so after being illuminated to almost daylight then plunged into darkness a few times, my eyes were all over the place....
I dont know about any worker injuries, but I saw the remains of more rear ended accidents in the months of the works than I have seen in the whole time I have been driving.
They may not have caused serious injury or deaths but they still arent doing anything for road safety. another short sightedness of the current policy??
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff