Norfolk speed camera removed
Discussion
You may remember a few weeks ago Norfolk Casualty Reduction Partnership getting in a bit of bother with the police and council for being very secretive, shredding accident data, putting cameras up to raise money, etc. and the police said they would investigate. Well, one camera has been officially decomissioned!
Maybe it will be the first of many...
Link
Maybe it will be the first of many...
Eastern Daily Press said:
Norfolk's most notorious speed camera has been scrapped because its position cannot be justified.
Today, the controversial Grapes Hill camera stands redundant as an investigation continues into the positioning of all 18 fixed speed cameras across Norfolk.
The decision came after growing public unease about the use of cameras, with some motorists accusing the partnership of choosing sites to raise cash rather than prevent accidents.
And the review could mean that the Grapes Hill camera is not the only one to fall foul of justification regulations.
It has been discovered that the data on which the decision to site the camera at Grapes Hill was based takes account of collisions and junctions which would not be picked up by the machine.
The Norfolk Casualty Reduction Partnership, the organisation which runs speed cameras in the county, last night admitted the camera position could not be justified.
Chairman of the partnership, Mark Veljovic, said: "We are fully aware that the siting of this camera in particular has provoked strong public concern, so we have looked at the original justification again.
"It is clear that there are enough concerns for us to decommission it now, pending the outcome of more detailed reviews."
The film has been removed from the camera while the review takes place.
The Norfolk Casualty Reduction Partnership, set up to run the county's speed cameras in 2001 and made up of representatives from the police, Norfolk County Council, the University of East Anglia, local NHS bodies, the Highways Agency, and magistrates, is itself also under review, by senior offices from the bodies which make up the partnership.
Both reviews place a question mark over the siting of all other cameras around the county.
But there will be no escape for motorists who have been clocked speeding by the camera.
Solicitor Simon Nicholls, of Belmores in Norwich, said: "Motorists caught speeding by the Grapes Hill camera have still committed an offence, whether the camera should have been there or not. They were caught speeding, which is breaking the law."
Norfolk Police Authority has called for greater transparency and accountability around where cameras are located, the criteria used in their siting, and the evidence on which decisions are based.
An earlier investigation by Norfolk police found that the data used to justify the siting of some cameras was questionable, while on other occasions it was simply unavailable – because it had been shredded.
Norfolk Chief Constable Andy Hayman said: "Whilst the decision of the Norfolk Casualty Reduction Partnership to temporarily decommission the Grapes Hill camera is welcome I would remind the community that this should not be seen as an opportunity to break the law. Inappropriate speed does contribute to accidents and therefore I urge adherence to the speed limit by all who use the roads of Norfolk."
The Norfolk Casualty Reduction Partnership has doubled the number of fixed cameras to 18 and brought in mobile patrols along 72 stretches of road since it was set up.
Police authority chairman Jim Wilson said: "I welcome the strategic review and similarly, the decision to temporarily decommission the Grapes Hill camera is also welcome."
Police will still monitor Grapes Hill for drivers exceeding the limit.
Link
Ah, the famous (here in Norfolk) Grapes Hill scamera.
The local partnership tout (and are still touting) the reduction from 7 serious incidents in the three years preceding its installation, and none in the six months since it was installed. So some statistician should be sacked.....
It should be noted this is probably a PR move connected with the attack on a Rave by Police Officers involving CS gas and truncheon work on a lot of sixteen year olds.
There is also a turf war for control between the Scameras, council and Police, who are claiming different representation and control.
Yes, btw, the Norwich scamera do claim their cameras are sited correctly.
Actually it isn't the worst. Sweet Briar Road on the Norwich Ring Road has a 40mph speed limit. Unlike the rest of the ring road (2 cameras for the lot I think) there are within about 400 yards of the camera there is no residential, commercial, or industrial property, side roads or other junctions at all - not even a track, and the road is dead straight.
It's arguably the safest bit of the whole ring road. In one direction there's a nasty roundabout with residential property close to the road, in the other large commercial and industrial sites and more nasty junction.
It's laughable ; you could stand there and not see anything apart from some allotments (which are about 20 foot away and 10 foot down) within 1/4 mile.
The local partnership tout (and are still touting) the reduction from 7 serious incidents in the three years preceding its installation, and none in the six months since it was installed. So some statistician should be sacked.....
It should be noted this is probably a PR move connected with the attack on a Rave by Police Officers involving CS gas and truncheon work on a lot of sixteen year olds.
There is also a turf war for control between the Scameras, council and Police, who are claiming different representation and control.
Yes, btw, the Norwich scamera do claim their cameras are sited correctly.
Actually it isn't the worst. Sweet Briar Road on the Norwich Ring Road has a 40mph speed limit. Unlike the rest of the ring road (2 cameras for the lot I think) there are within about 400 yards of the camera there is no residential, commercial, or industrial property, side roads or other junctions at all - not even a track, and the road is dead straight.
It's arguably the safest bit of the whole ring road. In one direction there's a nasty roundabout with residential property close to the road, in the other large commercial and industrial sites and more nasty junction.
It's laughable ; you could stand there and not see anything apart from some allotments (which are about 20 foot away and 10 foot down) within 1/4 mile.
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