Cameras collect £87million a year and cost 1.5million casualties

Speed and red light cameras have collected £87million in a year and led to 1.5million extra casualties, according to a report.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance added up fines collected through cameras from 2008 to 2009 and calculated what casualty rates would have been without them based on trends before their rollout. 

The study concluded a downward trend in casualties slowed after cameras were introduced in 1991.

It said: ‘A total of £87,368,227 was collected in speeding and red light offences caught on speed cameras in the financial period 2008-09 in the UK. This also includes fines from magistrates’ courts for speeding offences and neglect of traffic directions in 2008.

‘Using the road casualty rate from 1978-1990 it can be estimated that 1,555,244 more road casualties have occurred from 1991-2007 than would have if the 1978-1990 trend had continued.’