"Accidents rise a speed camera sites" in the news!
Discussion
From the Bucks Free press (www.bucksfreepress.co.uk). This is also the main headline in the printed edition:
ACCIDENTS at speed camera sites have risen by 14 per cent in two years in the Thames Valley bucking the national trend.
And the AA has attacked the expansion of speed camera coverage across the region after it was revealed this week that injuries sustained in accidents near Thames Valley speed cameras rose to 1,997 in the two years to April 2002.
A spokesman for the association said: "There is a vociferous and growing minority of drivers who believe the expansion of speed cameras is solely to generate revenue from fines, not to prevent road users being killed or injured.
"We would like to see more police presence on the road so we get away from the use of cameras."
The rise comes despite Thames Valley Police taking part in a Government initiative which has seen motorists handed out £7 million in speeding tickets.
The Government's Safer Roads Partnership splits fines between the Treasury and traffic police, who put the proceeds back into speeding enforcement.
But as Thames Valley's accident figures rose, other forces around the country announced dramatic falls in injury rates. Strathclyde Police reported a 64 per cent decrease.
Peter Smith, of the Safer Roads Partnership in Buckinghamshire, said: "Thames Valley has been using cameras since the early 1990s and there have been tremendous reductions in Bucks prior to the start of this pilot project.
"The measurements the Government has taken has a baseline in 1999 and the areas we are being compared to are just experiencing these types of reductions."
Mr Smith added: "Other forces can make easy gains but we can't. We suffer from the law of diminishing returns now.
"The warning to our neighbours is that they will be where we are in five or six years' time."
There are more than 300 speed cameras in the Thames Valley the same number as the total in the other seven police areas taking part in the scheme.
There have been four new cameras installed in Bucks in the past year, taking the total in the county to 62.
Mr Smith added: "We don't make money because there is no incentive to do more enforcement. We set out our operational costs every year and we get money to that level. If we do get any more money then it goes to the Treasury."
Inspector Malcolm Collis, head of the Thames Valley Specialist Unit for Roads Policing, said a combination of speed cameras and police officers was the solution for combating speeding.
"There is a time and a place for both so they can compliment each other," he said. "We have the fixed cameras along with roving patrol officers with mobile cameras."
ACCIDENTS at speed camera sites have risen by 14 per cent in two years in the Thames Valley bucking the national trend.
And the AA has attacked the expansion of speed camera coverage across the region after it was revealed this week that injuries sustained in accidents near Thames Valley speed cameras rose to 1,997 in the two years to April 2002.
A spokesman for the association said: "There is a vociferous and growing minority of drivers who believe the expansion of speed cameras is solely to generate revenue from fines, not to prevent road users being killed or injured.
"We would like to see more police presence on the road so we get away from the use of cameras."
The rise comes despite Thames Valley Police taking part in a Government initiative which has seen motorists handed out £7 million in speeding tickets.
The Government's Safer Roads Partnership splits fines between the Treasury and traffic police, who put the proceeds back into speeding enforcement.
But as Thames Valley's accident figures rose, other forces around the country announced dramatic falls in injury rates. Strathclyde Police reported a 64 per cent decrease.
Peter Smith, of the Safer Roads Partnership in Buckinghamshire, said: "Thames Valley has been using cameras since the early 1990s and there have been tremendous reductions in Bucks prior to the start of this pilot project.
"The measurements the Government has taken has a baseline in 1999 and the areas we are being compared to are just experiencing these types of reductions."
Mr Smith added: "Other forces can make easy gains but we can't. We suffer from the law of diminishing returns now.
"The warning to our neighbours is that they will be where we are in five or six years' time."
There are more than 300 speed cameras in the Thames Valley the same number as the total in the other seven police areas taking part in the scheme.
There have been four new cameras installed in Bucks in the past year, taking the total in the county to 62.
Mr Smith added: "We don't make money because there is no incentive to do more enforcement. We set out our operational costs every year and we get money to that level. If we do get any more money then it goes to the Treasury."
Inspector Malcolm Collis, head of the Thames Valley Specialist Unit for Roads Policing, said a combination of speed cameras and police officers was the solution for combating speeding.
"There is a time and a place for both so they can compliment each other," he said. "We have the fixed cameras along with roving patrol officers with mobile cameras."
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