Safety cameras save lives

The Department of Transport has released the results of a two year long study in to the effectiveness of road Safety Cameras, which concludes that they both reduce speeding and reduce the number of accidents.

The study was conducted between April 2000 and March 2002 and included eight separate areas incorporating Cleveland, Essex, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottingham, South Wales, Strathclyde, and Thames Valley.

The report found that there was a 35 per cent reduction in people killed or seriously injured at camera sites, a 14 per cent reduction in personal injury accidents, a 56 per cent reduction in the number of pedestrians killed or seriously injured, and 4 per cent fewer people in total were killed or seriously injured across the pilot areas.

The study also found that Safety cameras had a significant effect on peoples speeding habits. The average speed at all camera sites fell by 10 per cent, which equals about 3.7mph, the average speed at urban sites fell by 12-13 per cent, and the number of vehicles speeding at all camera sites dropped by significant 67 per cent.

But most surprisingly of all, when the report looked at people’s attitudes towards the cameras it found that 80 per cent agreed with the statement that ‘cameras are meant to encourage drivers to keep to the limits and not punish them’, and 68 per cent of drivers believe that the use of cameras means that dangerous drivers are more likely to be caught. However 45 per cent of respondents still believed that cameras were an easy way of making money out of motorists.

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