Speed cameras "face the axe"
Discussion
Article from the Eastern Daily Press
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The location of every speed camera in Britain is to be reviewed, it was announced yesterday as it emerged that cameras were threatening the livelihoods of professional drivers.
Transport Secretary Alistair Darling ordered the shake-up in the face of national disquiet over the yellow boxes dubbed the "motorists' enemy".
He said that, while the "vast majority" were helping cut accidents and reduce deaths and serious injuries, a review would show that others should be moved.
The move follows steps towards a system of flexible speeding penalties, with a sliding scale depending on how far over the limit drivers are travelling.
Meanwhile, hauliers in the region said speed cameras were making their lives more difficult and had led to good drivers losing their jobs.
Anthony Sutton, owner of a Bungay haulage company, said: "In the haulage trade they are a terrible thing. They probably cause more accidents than anything else.
"I got done myself three weeks ago, and got three points and a £60 fine. I was doing 50mph at 12.45am on an
A-road, when I was the only vehicle on the road."
One of Mr Sutton's drivers lost his licence only yesterday after being caught by speed cameras four times.
He said: "He is a chap of 56, not a harebrained lorry driver. He is now going to lose his licence and his job."
Heavy goods vehicles are restricted to 40mph on single carriageways, which means they either cause long tailbacks or risk speeding penalties.
Philip Frosdick, managing director of Haul Small at Yarmouth, said: "If every lorry stuck to the 40mph limit, it would bring the country to its knees. There would be chaos. Prices would go up because it would take longer to move everything.
"The police are pretty lenient but the cameras aren't. We know where they all are and we slow down when we get to them. The mobile ones are a bit of a nuisance."
He said that if it got worse, he would get speed camera detectors installed in every vehicle in the fleet.
Gary Long, financial controller of Blair Road Haulage in Northrepps, near Cromer, said: "There are just far too many cameras. Even in our company we have been done a few times for speeding. Our managing director is on the border of losing his licence through penalty points, and it's not because he is an irresponsible driver."
A Department for Transport survey showed most heavy goods vehicles break speed limits. On major non-built up single carriageway roads, 68% of articulated heavy goods vehicles were exceeding their 40mph limit.
Mr Darling told MPs details of each camera's effectiveness should be published next month, alongside an independent safety study.
"I have asked the department to look at each and every site in the whole country with a view to publishing details in relation to each site so people can see why the cameras were put there and the difference before and after.
"I have not the slightest doubt there will be some sites where it will be necessary for me to say to the local safety partnerships 'go and ask yourselves whether these cameras ought to be there or whether they should be moved elsewhere.'
"That is undoubtedly the case but the vast majority of them do save lives."
Supt Mark Veljovic, the chairman of the Norfolk Casualty Reduction Partnership, which oversees speed cameras in the county, said that local speed cameras were already under review.
"We are already doing a review of all our cameras, both fixed and mobile. We will then take action."
He was unable to comment on the concerns of local hauliers, but added: "We have always felt that speed cameras should be used as part of a menu for reducing casualties. The fact is that speed cameras do reduce accidents."
The RAC is to warn that motorists are losing respect for the police because of "robotic" speed enforcement methods, according to the RAC.
The decline in traffic police numbers should be reversed and police should be "more visibly present" on the roads, the RAC Foundation's executive director Edmund King said.
Link
The location of every speed camera in Britain is to be reviewed, it was announced yesterday as it emerged that cameras were threatening the livelihoods of professional drivers.
Transport Secretary Alistair Darling ordered the shake-up in the face of national disquiet over the yellow boxes dubbed the "motorists' enemy".
He said that, while the "vast majority" were helping cut accidents and reduce deaths and serious injuries, a review would show that others should be moved.
The move follows steps towards a system of flexible speeding penalties, with a sliding scale depending on how far over the limit drivers are travelling.
Meanwhile, hauliers in the region said speed cameras were making their lives more difficult and had led to good drivers losing their jobs.
Anthony Sutton, owner of a Bungay haulage company, said: "In the haulage trade they are a terrible thing. They probably cause more accidents than anything else.
"I got done myself three weeks ago, and got three points and a £60 fine. I was doing 50mph at 12.45am on an
A-road, when I was the only vehicle on the road."
One of Mr Sutton's drivers lost his licence only yesterday after being caught by speed cameras four times.
He said: "He is a chap of 56, not a harebrained lorry driver. He is now going to lose his licence and his job."
Heavy goods vehicles are restricted to 40mph on single carriageways, which means they either cause long tailbacks or risk speeding penalties.
Philip Frosdick, managing director of Haul Small at Yarmouth, said: "If every lorry stuck to the 40mph limit, it would bring the country to its knees. There would be chaos. Prices would go up because it would take longer to move everything.
"The police are pretty lenient but the cameras aren't. We know where they all are and we slow down when we get to them. The mobile ones are a bit of a nuisance."
He said that if it got worse, he would get speed camera detectors installed in every vehicle in the fleet.
Gary Long, financial controller of Blair Road Haulage in Northrepps, near Cromer, said: "There are just far too many cameras. Even in our company we have been done a few times for speeding. Our managing director is on the border of losing his licence through penalty points, and it's not because he is an irresponsible driver."
A Department for Transport survey showed most heavy goods vehicles break speed limits. On major non-built up single carriageway roads, 68% of articulated heavy goods vehicles were exceeding their 40mph limit.
Mr Darling told MPs details of each camera's effectiveness should be published next month, alongside an independent safety study.
"I have asked the department to look at each and every site in the whole country with a view to publishing details in relation to each site so people can see why the cameras were put there and the difference before and after.
"I have not the slightest doubt there will be some sites where it will be necessary for me to say to the local safety partnerships 'go and ask yourselves whether these cameras ought to be there or whether they should be moved elsewhere.'
"That is undoubtedly the case but the vast majority of them do save lives."
Supt Mark Veljovic, the chairman of the Norfolk Casualty Reduction Partnership, which oversees speed cameras in the county, said that local speed cameras were already under review.
"We are already doing a review of all our cameras, both fixed and mobile. We will then take action."
He was unable to comment on the concerns of local hauliers, but added: "We have always felt that speed cameras should be used as part of a menu for reducing casualties. The fact is that speed cameras do reduce accidents."
The RAC is to warn that motorists are losing respect for the police because of "robotic" speed enforcement methods, according to the RAC.
The decline in traffic police numbers should be reversed and police should be "more visibly present" on the roads, the RAC Foundation's executive director Edmund King said.
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