Speed Cameras, Anyone Contributed To The Latest Statistics?
Discussion
A SPEED camera set up to nab motorists racing through roadworks issued nearly £1million of tickets in just five months.
The camera, on the busy A316 Country Way in Hanworth, south west London, was catching motorists at the rate of more than 100 a day and ended up bagging 16,213 speeders.
With a normal speeding offence resulting in a £60 fine and three points it means the camera was responsible for £973,000 of fines and almost 50,000 penalty points.
Transport bosses put up the camera to police a temporary 30mph limit on the road, which usually has a 50mph limit.
It is used by thousands coming into and out of the capital via the M3.
The work included safety improvements and repairs to a bridge.
A total of 11,010 motorists were caught breaking the limit leaving the capital and another 5,203 heading into London.
It meant it came top of a list of top-earning temporary speed cameras in Britain last year. Others were:
The camera, on the busy A316 Country Way in Hanworth, south west London, was catching motorists at the rate of more than 100 a day and ended up bagging 16,213 speeders.
With a normal speeding offence resulting in a £60 fine and three points it means the camera was responsible for £973,000 of fines and almost 50,000 penalty points.
Transport bosses put up the camera to police a temporary 30mph limit on the road, which usually has a 50mph limit.
It is used by thousands coming into and out of the capital via the M3.
The work included safety improvements and repairs to a bridge.
A total of 11,010 motorists were caught breaking the limit leaving the capital and another 5,203 heading into London.
It meant it came top of a list of top-earning temporary speed cameras in Britain last year. Others were:
- £616,000 on the M1 at Mill Hill, north London, when cameras were used to police both sides of the motorway for six months when the limit was reduced from 70mph to 50mph,
- £397,000 in a 50mph temporary limit zone on the A2 at Cobham, Kent.
- £374,000 on the A40 in Denham, west London, when cameras were installed for six months while the limit was cut from 70mph to 40mph,
- £368,000 on the A550 Welsh Road, in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, where the limit went from 70mph to 40mph.
- £368,000 in an 18-month operation to improve safety at Junction 6 of the M62 where it meets the M57 in Merseyside.
- £71,000 in one month on the M1 near Rotherham, South Yorks, which had a temporary limit of 60mph. In total, all seven temporary sites took in a whopping £3.2million in speed fines.
What this proves is that speed cameras have nothing whatsoever to do with safety.
If the camera was there to improve road safety, the operators would have rapidly realised that this was a major problem area and would have done something about it - improved signage, traffic flow, police presence or whatever to improve it.
However they did nothing as it was making lots of money.
Cheers,
FT.
If the camera was there to improve road safety, the operators would have rapidly realised that this was a major problem area and would have done something about it - improved signage, traffic flow, police presence or whatever to improve it.
However they did nothing as it was making lots of money.
Cheers,
FT.
There is a stretch of dual carriageway not too far from where I live which has been reduced from 60mph to a temporary 40mph due to road works. I always adhere to the speed limit driving through roadworks, usually with the cruise control on just to be sure. It frustrates me how many "angry" motorists I find sitting right on my rear bumper and giving me foul looks on the way past!! Anyway, just last week the police were there stopping people for speeding during a quieter time of day. One guy who shook his head at me and sped past had been stopped further up the road!! I was almost tempted to toot the horn and wave at him!! He must have been doing 60mph, easily! They've now got an escort vehicle on the carriageway with traffic lights. This was the first time I've seen this. Basically you sit at a red light until the works van comes and escorts you through the roadworks at the specified speed. Quite a good idea, although I was caught by it in the early evening when it looked to me like everyone had gone home for the day, with no real danger to workmen. Although they could have been on a break?
It's all about the money. After all, how many of those motorists who had their money taken crashed because they were exceeding the unrealistically low limit? They're catching the wrong people if they want to stop people crashing.
Who would have thought a bunch of untrustworthy MPs would think up a scheme to lower speed limits to a low level, while claiming the moral high ground of safety and enforcing it with taxpayer-funded representatives and other self-interested bodies?
Who would have thought a bunch of untrustworthy MPs would think up a scheme to lower speed limits to a low level, while claiming the moral high ground of safety and enforcing it with taxpayer-funded representatives and other self-interested bodies?
At least with a speed camera, none of the offending motorists got held up or detained in their mad rush to get where they were going.
The queues at the Forth Bridge toll booths are a real bind when you are in a hurry!
Once again, the claims from some that speed cameras engender a degree of respect for limits that exceeds the small area covered by the cameras are shown to be a lie!
The queues at the Forth Bridge toll booths are a real bind when you are in a hurry!
Once again, the claims from some that speed cameras engender a degree of respect for limits that exceeds the small area covered by the cameras are shown to be a lie!
these roadworks on the A316/ M3 were using average speed cameras. I would set my cruise control at 30 but again never ceased to be amazed at the number of drivers passing me at at least 40 or sitting on my bumper....I am no fan of speed cameras but this shows just how poor some peoples observational skills are
slk 32 said:
these roadworks on the A316/ M3 were using average speed cameras. I would set my cruise control at 30 but again never ceased to be amazed at the number of drivers passing me at at least 40 or sitting on my bumper....I am no fan of speed cameras but this shows just how poor some peoples observational skills are
I tend to find that a lot of people don't seem to realise that an average speed camera does just that, measure your average speed, so they end up speeding until they reach a camera then slow down 
10 Pence Short said:
I don't particularly like cameras as a catch-all measure for speed enforcement, but I have little problem with them being used in roadworks. If anything, the penalties for speeding through roadworks should be significantly higher than for those committed elsewhere.
I actually agree with that too, it's a risky job working on the roads with just a line of cones seperating you from cars moving at speed, at least if there are speed cameras covering the area the road works are in, the workers stand a chance of some of the traffic slowing down and making it a touch less dangerous.What pisses me off is that they don't seem to switch them off when there aren't any repairs being carried out. The M1 for example in Notts has specs on it and a 50 mph limit. There's nobody working at night time and yet I don't see the 50 mph signs being removed so people are crawling along an empty motorway at night time.
Or, the cameras get turned off but they don't tell anybody.
Or, the cameras get turned off but they don't tell anybody.
Boosted LS1 said:
What pisses me off is that they don't seem to switch them off when there aren't any repairs being carried out. The M1 for example in Notts has specs on it and a 50 mph limit. There's nobody working at night time and yet I don't see the 50 mph signs being removed so people are crawling along an empty motorway at night time.
Or, the cameras get turned off but they don't tell anybody.
There are two issues that spring to mind...Or, the cameras get turned off but they don't tell anybody.
1) Even if nobody is working on the site at the time, there might be the usual collection of cones (including those on the hard shoulder, assuming the lane closures are not in force), signs and plant knocking about. There is obviously a high chance this may end unexpectedly up on the carraigeway, hence the need for a lower limit.
2) There will more than likely be a temporary speed limit order on the stretch of road where the roadworks are. It might not be lawful to enforce a 70mph limit if the temporary order states it is 50. It is impractical to keep removing and re-applying temporary orders.
Fume troll said:
What this proves is that speed cameras have nothing whatsoever to do with safety.
If the camera was there to improve road safety, the operators would have rapidly realised that this was a major problem area and would have done something about it - improved signage, traffic flow, police presence or whatever to improve it.
However they did nothing as it was making lots of money.
Yes quite.If the camera was there to improve road safety, the operators would have rapidly realised that this was a major problem area and would have done something about it - improved signage, traffic flow, police presence or whatever to improve it.
However they did nothing as it was making lots of money.
'Oh it's erm, a, erm what we accountants call a 'black spot', yes, that's right, a black spot. So that's why the ATM is there as a witness - we're not going to make it any safer, but we'd like some money so we're going to sit back and look at pictures.' The Camera Safety Partnership?
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