Driver education not cameras says IAM

Police chief Brunstrom hears speed camera policy trashed

By PH Staff / Wednesday, 8 December 2004 / Loading comments

Picture Courtesy of www.speedlimit.org.uk

Safety on UK roads is at risk because drivers feel "targeted, vulnerable and alienated", said John Maxwell, chairman of the Institute of Advanced Motorists today.

Speaking at the IAM’s annual lunch in London, Maxwell said that motorists are made to believe that congestion, delay, environmental pollution and, not least, the accident toll, is all their fault.

"Car drivers and motorcyclists are not just part of the problem: they can be – and need to be - part of the solution. Treat them fairly and get them back on-side, and there will be a rapid pay-back – not necessarily in the way that the Treasury appears to understand best, but for road safety."

Specifically, it was the IAM's regret that there has been a "dismal failure to 'sell' the safety benefits of speed cameras – allowing them, instead, to be misunderstood as instruments of entrapment and fund-raising," said Maxwell.

"Cameras are frequently sited where drivers believe them to be unnecessary, with a trigger mechanism that is lacking in discretion and penalty notices that arrive like overdue invoices. Too many road-users believe that speed cameras are nothing more than nice little earners, and that getting caught is less about discouraging dangerous driving than playing a game of chance."

In fact, Maxwell argued, cameras have a "legitimate and valuable role in enforcing compliance, as distinct from ensuring capture", and there must be an urgent review of camera locations. In addition, all camera sites should clearly show the speed limit at that point, with more repeater signs needed on restricted roads. Maxwell said: "Rehabilitating speed cameras – re-defining them as instruments of compliance, not capture – would do much to take the pressure off the vast majority of sensible drivers and riders who need little persuading that safety is common sense and should always come first."

Also necessary, says the IAM, is a review of speed limits, recognising the change in enforcement methods. Limits need be seen to be right if they are to earn respect and to be observed, and the message must be that, whatever the speed limit, it is inappropriate speed that kills.

There should, said Maxwell, be an "imaginative and positive response" to the Road Safety Bill, which already contains elements of driver re-education. And there needs to be more, not fewer, traffic police on UK roads. "A blue light and a sharp word will always have more effect, and earn more respect, than electronic surveillance and a penalty notice through the post."

Guest speaker at the IAM Annual Lunch was North Wales Chief Constable and ACPO Head of Road Policing Richard Brunstrom.