Thursday 5th July 2007

More cameras in Essex

Mobile camera vans on the move

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Mobile speed cameras will become an increasingly common sight on Essex's busiest roads as part of a new initiative.

The new approach is being taken by the Essex Casualty Reduction Board (ECRB). Motorists will now find the county's six mobile safety cameras, more police patrols and extra bridge-based cameras on busy trunk roads such as the A120 and the A12.

Chief Inspector Tom Diment, Essex Police's head of road policing, said that officers would now be in a position to move cameras on a more regular basis and combine clear and covert operations to help cut speeding.

He said: “We can be more dynamic and in a position to move the mobile cameras to the areas where we are identifying as KSI sites. They could be moved daily or weekly. The vehicles we're using are bigger and more high-profile to affect driver behaviour to reduce KSIs.”

A combination of activities makes up the scheme as well as cameras, including a poster and leaflet campaign to target groups such as young drivers and motorcyclists and problems such as drink and drug driving as well as speeding.

For more information visit:

www.drivingcasualtiesdown.org

[cirian75]

Liar Liar Lair, pants on fire.

[chrisbr68]

Whats a KSI?

[Big Rumbly]

Killed or seriously injured

[tigggger]

chrisbr68 said:

Whats a KSI?

Kerchiiiiing, Serious Income

[Hoonfest]

I haven't a problem with mobile units so long as they are targeting proven KSI areas and not just roads where they think they can make the most money.

It would be good if there were a web site (maybe there already is?) where the public could log on to and see exactly where these KSI areas are. Obviously this site would have to be run by a separate body to the police / government where official stats could be down loaded without being manipulated first.

At least this way the public can then see that the placing of these mobile units are justified.

[TEKNOPUG]

Speed cameras on the A120?!??!?! It's the Essex Autobahn ffs!! 20miles of straight, high visiblity, new tarmac bypass - with hardly ever much traffic on it. Yet more scamera nonsense from the Essex BiB

[Ravell]

Article said:

including a poster and leaflet campaign to target... ...problems such as drink and drug driving as well as speeding.

What in the world is a leaflet campain going to do about that!?! What will it say? "you're more likely to speed when you're drunk and that is bad so don't drink and drive" or something? Without propper enforcement serious issues such as drink driving will be ignored. Seems the message is who needs police when we've got scamaras and leaflets...

[andyps]

[quote]The vehicles we're using are bigger and more high-profile to affect driver behaviour
[/quote]

Trouble is, even if they are bigger and more high-profile you have probably already been caught by the camera by the time you realise what the large, high-profile, vehicle is. Then you change your behaviour past it but still get a NiP in the post.

Speaking from experience of a smaller, less high-profile vehicle....

[jon-]

tigggger said:

chrisbr68 said:

Whats a KSI?

Kerchiiiiing, Serious Income

Best first post ever.

[Gfun]

andyps][quote said:

The vehicles we're using are bigger and more high-profile to affect driver behaviour

Trouble is, even if they are bigger and more high-profile you have probably already been caught by the camera by the time you realise what the large, high-profile, vehicle is. Then you change your behaviour past it but still get a NiP in the post.

Speaking from experience of a smaller, less high-profile vehicle....

Guess thats why they use eurohire rented vans round here....yep that will be it...
Oh and if your from Eurohire yes I have stopped using you.

[flattotheboards]

tigggger said:

chrisbr68 said:

Whats a KSI?

Kerchiiiiing, Serious Income

thats pretty good.

[SS HSV]

drivingcasualtiesdown.org said:

Speeding in Essex - the facts
Shown below are the KSI casualties involving speeding drivers in Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock, compared to the overall KSI casualties.

2003 2004 2005 2006
Essex All KSI casualties 1170 1075 963 987
Essex KSI casualties involving speeding drivers 179 150 125 156
15% 14% 13% 16%
Southend All KSI casualties 101 88 78 64
Southend KSI casualties involving speeding drivers 14 5 3 3
14% 6% 4% 5%
Thurrock All KSI casualties 164 116 111 112
Thurrock KSI casualties involving speeding drivers 29 17 15 18
18% 15% 14% 16%

So they are up this year on all counts. With yet more cameras and more sneaky vans do they honestly think that throwing a few more vans into the mix will bring the statistic down?

It's not the speed that is causing the kpi's to go up you bunch of fools it's poor road layouts, poor driver education, poor signage, and the nanny state for allowing cars to do the driving with driver aids.

I think what will happen here is that drivers will begin not to use their cars in fear of being snapped, which must be exactly what the government wants.

[Mattt]

Is Paul going to put in a request for the current KSI information relating to speed on those roads?

The accidents & near misses I see regularly on those stretches are nothing to do with speed, but the poor design & road markings by the HA/Essex CC.

[Mattt]

Where is says speeding drivers, does that mean they were speeding, or the speed was the primary cause of the incident?

[s2art]

SS HSV said:

drivingcasualtiesdown.org said:

Speeding in Essex - the facts
Shown below are the KSI casualties involving speeding drivers in Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock, compared to the overall KSI casualties.

2003 2004 2005 2006
Essex All KSI casualties 1170 1075 963 987
Essex KSI casualties involving speeding drivers 179 150 125 156
15% 14% 13% 16%
Southend All KSI casualties 101 88 78 64
Southend KSI casualties involving speeding drivers 14 5 3 3
14% 6% 4% 5%
Thurrock All KSI casualties 164 116 111 112
Thurrock KSI casualties involving speeding drivers 29 17 15 18
18% 15% 14% 16%

So they are up this year on all counts. With yet more cameras and more sneaky vans do they honestly think that throwing a few more vans into the mix will bring the statistic down?

It's not the speed that is causing the kpi's to go up you bunch of fools it's poor road layouts, poor driver education, poor signage, and the nanny state for allowing cars to do the driving with driver aids.

I think what will happen here is that drivers will begin not to use their cars in fear of being snapped, which must be exactly what the government wants.

I wonder if those figures match the NHS ones.

[Mattt]

Got a bit angry, so emailed this off just now:



Dear Sirs,

Please can you forward me a breakdown of how you calculate your statistics, i.e. what is takes for the incident to be included within 'KSI casualties involving speeding drivers' - as incidents involving excess speed and excess speed as a primary cause of the accident are two different things. Also for 'young drivers', what does this mean? Was the young driver (between the ages of....?) the primary cause of the accident, or were they merely involved?

For the latest strategy of increasing enforcement along the A12 and A120, at supposed KSI sites, will these sites be targeted due to a large number of speed as a primary cause of the KSI incidents, or will they also be chosen for further speed enforcement where the cause has been decided as something else - poor road design/layout or inattentive driving perhaps?

Best regards,

Mattt

[bryan35]

chrisbr68 said:

Whats a KSI?

Stands for Killed or Seriously Injured. Basically combines 2 sets of statistics. The relatively large SI with the relatively small K. The good bit is, unlike the defination of "Killed", SI is much more flexible. The definition of SI was any person requiring a night or more stay in hospital. However, due to a shortage of beds, better paramedic treatment, better treatment all round, there is less of a 'keeping in overnight for observation' culture, so as a result the SI figure falls.
AND NOW THE CLEVER BIT...........
Group your large number of falling SI's with the gradually increasing number of K's and the KSI figure keeps falling year on year!

So, since cameras have been installed, the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads has fallen.

Doesn't that sound great!!!!! Award that PR marketting person a gold star.

[rbryant]

bryan35 said:

chrisbr68 said:

Whats a KSI?

.... due to a shortage of beds, better paramedic treatment, better treatment all round, there is less of a 'keeping in overnight for observation' culture, so as a result the SI figure falls.
AND NOW THE CLEVER BIT...........
Group your large number of falling SI's with the gradually increasing number of K's and the KSI figure keeps falling year on year!

So, since cameras have been installed, the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads has fallen.

Doesn't that sound great!!!!! Award that PR marketting person a gold star.

Very good, very observant. The death statistics cannot be fiddled and are static or rising. Speed cameras are the wrong solution, they promote the "I'm OK I'm within the speed limit" mentality, reduce the emphasis on thought and personal responsibility, avoid focussing on solutions that would work such as redesigning bad junctions, driver education, more real traffic police. They are basically killing people. Madness

[10W/40]

Essex Police spend most of their camera income on their Billericay offices.
Reckon the electric gates cost about £50k.

I walk 500mtrs to the station every day and see at least 4 people on their phone driving, 1 or 2 not slow down for a roundabout and drive over it, across traffic and this morning a guy overtake a line of cars to turn right at a mini roundabout and almost crash into someone coming from the other way.

We need more police patrolling I think.

[joz8968]

QUOTE: "...officers would now be in a position to move cameras on a more regular basis and combine clear and covert operations to help cut speeding."


How on earth does COVERT operations - mobile at that - cut speeding!... Bunch o' twa*s