Safety Camera Success Story

The number of people killed and seriously injured in road crashes has fallen by up to 50% in eight trial areas where fines from offending drivers detected by speed cameras are used to cover the costs of enforcement. The cameras, now called safety cameras to help get the message across, are being used on roads with a crash history. Results from the first year of this two year pilot are dramatic in all departments. Casualties, collisions and speeds: down. Awareness, speed limit compliance and across-the-board savings: up.

In Northamptonshire, one of the trial areas, police issued 100,000 tickets last year compared to only 4,000 in 1999 before the trials began. Road deaths are down by 28%, from 76 in 1999 to 55 in 2000. Northamptonshire is a third of the way toward the national target to reduce road casualties by 40% by the year 2010. On official calculations, preventing the 21 deaths and 84 severe injuries has saved over £33 million in one year.

In Lincolnshire savings from reduction in the number and severity of crashes is already expected to exceed scheme targets. Crashes resulting in death and serious injury are down by 90% at all camera sites and by 100% at trunk road fixed camera sites compared to a 15% reduction on all Lincolnshire's roads.

Driver response is promising On camera-enforced roads in Lincolnshire, 45% fewer drivers are exceeding the speed limit and the numbers exceeding it by more than 15mph has fallen by 89%. 85th percentile speeds - the speeds not exceeded by 85% of drivers - are down an average 11%.

Since the launch of the project in April 2000 there has been "a noticeable dampening down of speed" in Northamptonshire. Police Superintendent Steve Chamberlain said "Motorists do seem to be taking a more responsible approach to driving."

Public support

In a Lincolnshire survey, 87% of respondents agreed that 'Cameras are meant to encourage drivers to keep to limits not to punish them'. In Northamptonshire they can measure the effectiveness of an 'intense' marketing campaign: 68% of drivers caught speeding at the start ot the project were from Northamptonshire. Now it's 22%.

Commenting on results to date at a Parliamentary meeting organised by Brake in February, Chief Constable of North Wales Police, Richard Brunstrom said: "Northamptonshire has been phenomenally successful in terms of public support - 90% of the local press reports and letters in the press about this project have been positive and just 4% negative."

Mr Brunstrom appealed for leadership from Whitehall: "The Government needs to take a lead with a national advertising campaign to change driver behaviour. Thousands of lives are at stake here," he said.

Going nationwide The results mean the scheme will go national. Clause 37 of the Vehicle Crime Bill, currently going through it final stages in Parliament, gives the police and local authorities the right to reinvest a proportion of fines in camera technology, engineering and education. A big increase is expected in the number of speed cameras - up from 4,000 to 6,000 across England and Wales.